A Lost Corner of a Once Young Forest
by katlou303
Summary: One minute Minato is rescuing his team from Iwa shinobi, the next he's stumbled forward in time, taking them with him. All the way to a future that they don't belong in, where only Kakashi seems to be alive, and Minato's face is carved into the Hokage Mountain. Minato/Zabuza
1. Chapter 1

They're still in Kusa.

That's the best he can do.

Minato isn't sure how far they flashed, or if that Iwa nin's last jutsu had any effect on them at all, but Obito is not doing well and Kakashi's newly-mismatched eyes are looking wild. Rin is the calmest, looking around their surroundings and chewing on a soldier pill, hands glowing over Obito's chest. Minato grabs a cloak from his pack, more grateful than ever for Kushina's seal of expansion, and drapes it around Obito, fastening it around his neck.

"Kakashi, can you deactivate your Sharingan?" Minato asks, ignoring the inherent wrongness of that statement. Kakashi shouldn't have the Sharingan at all, Obito shouldn't be lying pale and broken on foreign soil while Rin fights to keep him alive.

Kakashi clearly tries, squinting both eyes, but grimaces when nothing happens. Minato assesses the situation. Sharingan clearly marks him out as Konoha-born, which isn't something you want to be in Iwa territory.

"Do you have enough chakra for a decent henge?" Minato asks. "Even just one that hides your eyes and hair colour would be enough."

Kakashi answers with a little huff, shaken but still cocky. He flashes a hand-seal and when he blinks, two dark eyes blink back. His hair is pale blond, which doesn't suit him, but will have to do for now.

"Rin, you can either use henge to hide your clan markings or put bandages over them." Minato tells her.

Rin barely looks up from her fierce battle with Obito's injuries, "Bandages. Healing requires too much chakra to support any kind of drain."

Minato flicks a glance at Kakashi, who immediately gets to work looking for the right size bandages in Minato's pack. It's unsettling, seeing a compliant Kakashi and a coolly-competent Rin. Almost as strange as seeing Obito without a smile.

As Kakashi carefully applies the bandages to Rin's face, Minato makes a decision. Not one he likes, but a necessary one.

"We need to get Obito to a team of medic-nin." He says, holding a hand up when Kakashi immediately starts to protest. "Rin is skilled, but even she isn't capable of reversing this level of damage on her own. According to our map, the nearest clinic is in Kusagakure. We can't risk detection, so we'll have to sneak in rather than try to gain access from the main entrance. We'll go over the walls and bribe the medics. Any questions?"

"Should we be doing this?" Kakashi asks, his voice low.

"We absolutely should not. We never enter an enemy village without express orders, because we could get caught and cause a diplomatic incident, start a war, or be used as hostages against our home village." Minato says cheerfully.

"But we're doing it anyway." Kakashi says, sounding shockingly unbothered. "For Obito."

"For Obito." Minato agrees.

"What if we're caught?" Kakashi says, eyes drilling into the side of Minato's head. "Protocol dictates we cannot be in enemy territory without explicit permission from the Hokage, because, as you said, we might start a war."

Minato smiles, "We're already at war, Kakashi."

Still, Kakashi presses on, relentless, "Protocol dictates we leave Obito behind if detected."

Rin looks up, her face wretched. She takes a deep breath and focuses on Obito once more, though her hands are shaking now.

"You're a jounin now, Kakashi. What call would you make?" Minato asks. It doesn't matter what Kakashi replies, as Minato is team leader for this mission, but he's curious. Kakashi seems _different_ in some unquantifiable way.

Kakashi glares up at him, his eyes burning with intensity, "I would _never_ leave a comrade behind."

Minato turns to hide his smile, forming a henge of his own, "I know. Now, let's get going before Iwa catches up with us."

"Let them try." Kakashi mutters darkly, a sentiment Rin echoes.

Minato's smile turns sharp.

 _Let them try, indeed._

xxxxxxxx

Slipping into Kusa is easy. Bizarrely so. Kusagakure is Iwa territory, and Iwa is at all-out war with the biggest Hidden Village in the world. Kusa _should_ be on alert for trouble, especially given the Kannabi Bridge's recent destruction. Instead, Kusa is almost… merry. The people don't appear downtrodden, as you would expect from citizens of an occupied nation. There are shinobi of all ages here, looking healthy and fit for service, milling around the village instead of manning battlefields.

Strange.

Still, Minato doesn't dwell on it, just thanks whatever force is looking out for them today, then finds a back-alley clinic that's willing to trade medical aid for some of his emergency funds. Rin stays with Obito, ostensibly to help the Kusa medics heal him, but also to keep an eye on them. Seeking aid from the enemy is never a good idea, even if you go under the radar, like they are. If their identities are discovered, it won't end well.

Kakashi wanted to stay with Rin and help with Obito, but Minato persuaded him that splitting their forces to gain information would be more prudent. Even this new version of Kakashi, with his sudden interest in loyalty, still cares about doing what's best for the mission – provided it doesn't mean abandoning a teammate. Minato is glad he's finally learned that lesson, but wishes it could have been taught a little more kindly. Kakashi's henge does little to hide the wild look in his eyes, the restless energy in his stance that marks him out as prey to every predator around.

"The map is wrong." Kakashi declares, breaking Minato's reverie. He's glaring at the paper, keeping his Sharingan closed as he takes in the map's details. He must be struggling to parse all the new information Obito's eye offers him.

Minato peers over his shoulder. They're both crouched in a tree, higher than most would consider checking for unwanted visitors. The branches are thin enough that they need to keep a chakra-enhanced grip on the trunk to keep from breaking through and plummeting to the ground. He still remembers the first time Obito and Rin had to learn to walk up trees. Kakashi already knew, and arrogantly leapt past Obito as he attempted his shaky climb. Obito had fallen, thanks to Kakashi's rough shove, and Minato had snatched him out of the air.

 _I should have scolded him more,_ Minato thinks, eyeing the shaken boy at his side, _I shouldn't have tried to laugh it off. He should have learned camaraderie in a safe place. I should have been more of a teacher, less of a friend._

As he scans the map, he quickly notices what Kakashi means. There's more trees marked on the map than exist before them, and the river ends further back than the inked lines indicate. As he examines the horizon, more and more things leap out to him as subtly off. The map could be outdated, since Konoha nin rarely find cause to cross Kusa's borders, but these discrepancies are far too stark to be the result of old info.

Information this inaccurate is either the result of severe inadequacy or deliberate sabotage. Minato sighs, resting his chin on Kakashi's head and ignoring his annoyed attempts to swat him away. _Can't one thing go right on this mission_? Minato thinks gloomily.

Just then, he feels the distant echo of powerful chakra. He slumps, knocking his head on the tree trunk. _Not exactly what I meant, universe._

Kakashi has stiffened, crouching down, "Two – no, three shinobi – less than a mile east."

"You've been working on your sensory abilities," Minato says, the praise coming out flat and tired. He longs for an end to this mission, and something tells him the three distinct chakra signals won't bring it.

Minato's henge is based on a civilian he once knew. A kind man in his forties, with a drab appearance and unremarkable features. His hair was mud-brown, his eyes always blinking owlishly behind oversized glasses. Minato uses his image because the man is long dead, and unlikely to ever be recognised by an enemy. It's also easier to maintain a henge of a person whose features are familiar to you, so you don't accidentally enlarge a nose or change height in-between uses.

Minato considers his angle. The shinobi could be from Konoha – possibly even locked in a clash with Iwa, which would explain the unrestrained nature of the chakra lashing out at his senses. If they _aren't_ from Konoha, he still needs to ascertain who they really are, and if they pose a threat to his mission. His unsanctioned mission to keep his team alive, naturally.

"I'm your father. We're hunting in the forest. We overheard a ruckus that might disturb the prey. Sound good?" Minato asks. He always checks with the kids before going ahead with a plan. He doesn't like to run roughshod over them.

Kakashi rolls his eyes, then winces, clamping a hand over his Sharingan. Minato tousles Kakashi's newly-blond hair, giving him a gentle smile when he looks up, eyes watering with pain.

"Why do I always have to pretend to be your son?" Kakashi grumbles.

"So my fatherly pride won't look out of place." Minato grins, then leaps off the tree. There's the slightest rustle of grass, marking Kakashi's landing as he follows him down.

They approach the chakra cautiously, Kakashi a few paces behind Minato. He always insists on either leading the pack or covering the rear when moving as a squad. There's nothing he hates more than being in the safest spot, sheltered in the middle. Sometimes Minato despairs of his kids.

They're approaching a settlement. It doesn't look affiliated with any particular village, and a quick look at the possibly-defunct map reveals it's not even marked down. There's a large building in the very centre, possibly a temple or shrine, with carved statues lining the entrance. Very traditional in appearance. The chakra is resonating from the building.

Minato leans against the wall next to the entrance, not bothering to funnel chakra to his ears. No point possibly alerting an enemy to your presence with enhanced hearing at this close range.

"Art?" He hears a deep voice say, a faint echo attached to the sound.

"The art that I create with clay that I make myself!" A younger voice chirps. Older than Kakashi, younger than him. At that ambiguous, hard to pin down age.

Have they truly just stumbled upon an innocent conversation about art? Which also happens to involve three powerful shinobi positively _leaking_ chakra? _Hmm,_ Minato makes a face, _the odds seem to be against us having a peaceful chat about clay. Shame. I know… nothing about clay. Or art. Probably for the best if this breaks out into a fight._

"It can also explode!" The younger one enthuses. Minato stiffens, exchanging a perturbed look with Kakashi. "And when it does, it makes its existence more sublime… And that's when it finally becomes art! Because art is an explosion!"

Kakashi makes the hand-signs for _unstable opponent._ Minato flaps his hand back, bracing for an explosion. He knows how these things usually go.

"That's enough." A third voice says quietly, cold enough to send warning shivers down Minato's spine. He feels chakra rise up, gathering in anticipation for a technique, and gestures for Kakashi to circle around the back of the building. "I'll handle this."

Kakashi flickers to the exit, still in view. He's poised and ready for a fight. Judging by the volume of voices, he is now closest to the cold-voiced one.

"What? You want to fight?" The youngest asks, sounding delighted. Why is Minato surrounded by idiot, thrill-seeking children?

"Yes, and if I win, you'll become a member of Akatsuki." The cold voice says, still not changing in pitch or tone at all.

Akatsuki is unfamiliar, but Minato's heard enough gang names to recognise what this is. They're attempting to pressgang the kid into joining whatever group they're in. Anger boils in his gut. He _hates_ when people's choices are stolen from them.

 _Do not engage with enemy,_ he signs, throwing in a few _caution! Wait for me! Danger!_ signs to hammer it home. Kakashi tosses his head.

Minato edges into view, peering into the room for the first time.

The kid is sitting in front of him, thankfully turning to look back at the other occupants of the room. Minato's gaze skids over him and hits the three shinobi, all wearing black and red cloaks. One has stepped forward, his eyes red and his –

Minato feels something cold creep down his spine.

His eyes are red, like Obito and Kakashi's. He's wearing a hitae-ate just like Minato's, only his has a neat scar running through the middle.

 _An Uchiha went rogue?_ He thinks, mind buzzing with the implications the news brings. More reason for the village to distrust the clan. More reasons for the clan to stay insular, refusing to let anyone in or out. In other words, a disaster.

And though the Uchiha hasn't quite released his jutsu just yet, he is clearly gathering an illusion as he maintains eye contact with the kid.

Minato hates himself.

He flashes a quick, _go back to the others if I die_ , at Kakashi, then steps into the building.

Instantly, all eyes are on him.

He avoids looking directly at the Uchiha, instead smiling at the very large… shark-man. Minato regrets everything.

"Is everything alright?" He asks, his voice the same gentle wisp Fujioka once used.

"Get lost, old man." The kid says. His words are harsh, but he widens his eyes meaningfully, jerking his head ever so slightly at the Akatsuki behind him.

 _Aw, he's trying to warn me!_ Minato instantly warms to the kid.

"I heard raised voices and I was concerned." Minato says, stepping further into the building, ignoring the kid's crazed attempts to make eye contact. "Is there a problem? If you're outsiders, the Elder is the person to talk to."

The shark-man turns to the Uchiha, one hand casually lifting to his sword, a tell he wouldn't allow in front of an enemy shinobi. The perks of being a fake-civilian.

"Should I?" The shark-man asks, his voice low.

Minato folds his arms, trying to look stern, "Young man, this is not the place for violence. And I do not appreciate such bald-faced threats. I won't stand idly by as a boy is beleaguered by ruffians."

"He is a missing-nin," The Uchiha says calmly, "He fled to your town as a way to avoid reprisals from his home village after he bombed it on his way out."

Minato allows his shock to show – he's playing a civilian, after all – but firms his stance, refusing to back down, "I don't know enough about the big villages to say whether or not you shinobi aren't always bombing your homes. For all I know, it's some kind of… training exercise! And you won't distract me. He's not made any trouble since his arrival, been very quiet, keeping to himself. The only trouble we've had is you lot. I'm going to have to ask you nicely to leave. And if you don't, then I won't be quite so nice the second time I ask!"

The Uchiha sighs, a faint breath barely disturbing the silence, then nods to the shark-man, "Kisame, take care of him."

"Hey!" The kid jumps up, fists raised. Clay leaks out from between his fingers. "Didn't you say we could fight? What's the matter – scared you won't win? Have to pick fights with old civilians, yeah?"

"Less of the old," Minato grouses, then strides forward, "And don't make trouble with shinobi. Kisame, is it?" He addresses the shark-man, planting his hands on his hips. "How about this – if I can knock you down just once, you'll leave the boy alone."

"Oi, jiji, you wanna die, yeah?" The boy hisses.

"Everyone dies. Hardly anyone lives. And if you go through life ignoring your conscience and allowing others to suffer, you're already dead." Minato says, offering the boy a little smile.

"Fine last words, old man." Kisame says cheerfully, arms outstretched in invitation. "Go ahead. Knock me down."

"This is a complete waste of time." The large, hulking figure in the corner says. His voice has a hollow ring to it.

"Says you. I've not had this much fun in forever." Kisame grins, showing off rows of sharp, shining teeth.

"Out of interest, do most shinobi look like you?" Minato inquires politely.

Kisame cracks his neck, "I'm one of a kind."

"He's a freak of nature." The large man offers dryly.

Kisame puffs up immediately, ready for a fight, but the Uchiha raises his hand.

"Sasori was right the first time. This is a pointless diversion."

"I've faced veteran shinobi who've shown more fear than this old guy." Kisame protests. "I want to have fun feeding Samehada."

Not only is Minato a veteran shinobi, he's fresh off a mission that involved him versus a thousand veteran shinobi. Iwa now has a thousand less shinobi.

"I'm not afraid," Minato says calmly, "Because I'm going to knock you down."

Kisame chuckles, loosening up his stance as if helping Minato along with his promise, "Go ahead, then, old man. I'm dying to see what you can do."

"I bet you are," Minato mumbles, then flickers forward.

It's the work of an instant to hook a foot around Kisame's ankle and to give his back a good, hard shove. He topples head over heels, and Minato is already moving before his friends can make reprisals.

His hands slam down to the wooden floor, a golden seal flaring beneath his palms.

Sasori crashes through the wall.

The Uchiha manages to dodge, but Kakashi's already taken advantage of the diversion and yanked the boy out of the room, so Minato calls it a job well done.

He kicks out at Kisame as he rolls on the floor, trying to spring to his feet. The Uchiha makes a move, so Minato flicks a kunai in his general direction, expecting him to dodge, then he appears behind the missing-nin.

The Uchiha whirls around, red eyes blurring into view, but Minato sinks his fist into his gut. To his surprise, the blow's enough to make blood spray out of the man's mouth, his whole body curving into Minato's fist.

 _Weak condition,_ Minato notes, then flickers away as Kisame's sword comes down over his head.

Kisame is grinning, wild delight in his eyes, "'Do most shinobi look like you,'" He quotes, spinning his massive sword with a careless hand gesture, "You really fooled me there, old man! I thought you were an uppity civilian on a suicidal moral crusade. I'm really gonna enjoy this…"

"Don't be so sure." Minato graces him with a rare smirk, then flashes through the hole Sasori left.

There's no sign of the larger man when Minato emerges, which is troublesome. There's every chance he went after Kakashi and the boy, which means Minato has to head off Kisame and the rogue Uchiha, _then_ circle back and avoid Sasori.

Should be simple enough.

xxxxxxxx

"You're late," Is the first thing Kakashi says as Minato swings up onto the same branch as him, "Did you have trouble losing them?"

"..No." Minato says finally, glancing between his subordinate and the blond kid they picked up. "Hi. Got a name? Sorry to barge in like that, but it seemed like you needed help."

The kid puffs out his cheeks, close to an outburst. He swallows it down, simply saying, "I'm Deidara. I could have handled it. There were only three guys, yeah?"

"Yeah," Minato repeats blankly, unsure of how to deal with yet another difficult teen, "But there's a chance you couldn't handle it by yourself, and then where would you be? Uh, yeah?"

Deidara's face turns mottled red, "Are you making fun of me?"

"This is pointless," Kakashi says, eerily close to the rogue Uchiha's flat tone, "Sensei, I suggested we return to Kusa, but he refused to enter one of the main villages."

"I'm a _missing-nin_ , yeah?" Deidara tosses his head. "We're not exactly welcome in shinobi territory."

"Unless you're in a gang," Minato points, studying Deidara's expressive face, "You could have protection with them. Ample pay, steady work, freedom to move about in the villages…"

"It's just another cage. You see how they were all wearing the same cloaks? And they had the same look in their eye, like this was just another job and they didn't care either way how it went. I don't want that kind of complacency. I want to make every day spontaneous and magnificent! I don't ever want to be like _them_ ," Deidara spits, hugging his knees. Kakashi is loosely gripping his arm, but he doesn't seem to notice or care, "I want to be free to make my art, to show the world that impermanence is the most perfect kind of beauty. Transience is – "

"Okay, okay," Minato says, holding up his hand, "I get it. Art is an explosion, that's great. So, who are you and why were this 'Akatsuki' targeting you in the first place?"

"They said it back there," Deidara replies sulkily, "I stole forbidden scrolls and took out half of Iwa in my escape."

"Iwa?" Minato repeats, "You're a missing-nin from _Iwa_?"

If Deidara – and the rogue Uchiha – were telling the truth, one of Iwa's own had dealt them a crippling blow. This could put an end to the war. Minato's disastrous mission would be swept under the rug.

He can't help but beam at Deidara, who looks startled, "That's great! Way to go, kid."

Deidara scoots back a little on the branch, looking uncertain, "And who are _you_ , anyway? I thought you were a civilian, but you were so fast… you took out Shark-Breath like it was nothing!"

Minato shrugs, "I had a huge advantage. He felt strong. I don't know how a real head-to-head with him and me would go."

Kakashi makes an impatient noise, and Minato shakes himself out of his reverie. He was picturing being swatted like a fly by Kisame's enormous sword.

"Right. Plans. Okay, you head back to the clinic and let the team know what's happened, then come find me and Deidara at the inn on the map that's marked yellow, okay?" Minato claps a hand on Kakashi's shoulder, carefully not using names or specifics around Deidara.

"How will I know what room you're in?" Kakashi asks.

"I'll mark the door." Minato winks, twirling a kunai around his finger.

xxxxxxxx

Kakashi is not having a good day.

Things went from bad to slightly better to much worse in quick succession. Seeing Obito like that, half-crushed and so clearly beyond help… it had broken something inside Kakashi. He's not sure it'll ever grow back whole, whatever it was.

Then Minato showed up, his face stern and achingly cold, and he ripped through the boulder with a doton jutsu like it was _nothing_ , even though earth was his opposing element.

Minato had touched Obito's cheek, bid Kakashi and Rin to hold his hand, then he activated his teleportation jutsu and they veered sickeningly through space, winding up on the other side of the thick, rock wall. Kakashi had fallen to his knees, his senses wrenched by the journey. He had barely noticed the multiple chakra signals converge on their location. They had felt like buzzing bees, just a white noise of static until they grew in number and volume, impossible to ignore.

They were surrounded by an endless force of Iwa shinobi.

Rin went pale, clutched Obito's uninjured hand. Kakashi pressed in close to her. He was just glad they wouldn't die in that nightmarish cave, together in the dark.

And Minato had sighed, brushed off his uniform, and slowly stood up.

Kakashi's eye had been streaming with blood and tears, so what followed was blurred and confusing, but Rin confirmed it for him shortly after: Minato _decimated_ the squadron.

It was only when he tried to teleport again, his hand on Obito's, the rest of the team huddled around him, and one of the last Iwa nin threw that jutsu their way _just_ at the moment of transportation.

They arrived not too far off their previous location, but everything seemed slightly… _wrong._

Kakashi is still wearing his pale blond and dark-eyed henge, though he's flagging. He feels like he passed exhausted a long time ago and is now firmly on the other side. He heads for the back-alley clinic, hoping Rin will have more soldier pills to perk him up. He doesn't trust Deidara, and certainly doesn't trust his sensei will be sensible about him. He always did love his lost causes.

Kakashi can hear the low murmur of agitated voices coming from inside the clinic, and he speeds up ever so slightly.

"But he'll _die_ – " That's Rin, sounding fraught and at the edge of tears.

Kakashi bursts into the room.

The three shady medics from before are standing around Obito on the cot, none of them making a move to treat his injuries. Despite his pallor, despite the beads of sweat at his brow, _none_ of them are trying to help him.

"What's going on?" Kakashi growls.

Rin is standing on a stool, bending over Obito. One glowing hand rests on his forehead, the other on his chest. There's no colour in her cheeks, she is chalk-white and her eyes are bloodshot. She's pushing the edge of chakra exhaustion.

"We were just explaining that your friend's injuries are more severe than we'd originally thought," One of the men says, tucking his thumbs into his pockets and puffing out his chest, "So we're naturally gonna need more money to cover the bill."

"You originally thought his injuries were _not_ severe?" Kakashi says flatly, taking one threatening step forward. "Take over for my friend, right now. Give us the service we paid for, or I will slowly take its worth from your flesh."

"Kakashi, that won't help." Rin says, her voice strained.

"It would make me feel better." Kakashi eyes the nearest man.

"You need to pay for the service we're offering, or else our time and energy will be wasted." The man says, unfazed.

Kakashi grinds his teeth. "I don't have any money on me. I would have to retrieve it from my sensei, and he's – "

"By the time you got there and back it'd be too late." The man shrugs, casting Obito a cursory glance. "The kid's done for. He doesn't have much time left. Might be kinder to put him out of his misery now – "

Though Kakashi moves to shut the man up, he doesn't get there fast enough.

Rin leaps down from her stool and punches the man in the face.

"You're a _disgrace_ to our profession, you washed-up, useless waste of flesh!" She snarls. "I hope you've enjoyed every second of this vile life you've chosen to lead. You make me _sick_."

The man stares, covering his rapidly-swelling cheek.

"Kakashi, you'll have to carry Obito." Rin says, her voice icily calm. Kakashi glances down at her hands. They're shaking in rage.

"If we take him away from the only medics other than you, what can we do for him? You're nearly out of chakra, and – "

"I'll be fine," Rin interrupts impatiently, "Because we're going to take these kind gentlemen's entire supply of chakra pills."

"What?" One of the other men laughs, incredulous.

Rin wipes the sweat from Obito's face, and turns to look at the men, deadly serious, "Kakashi, how would you like to collect that flesh you mentioned before?"

The men all go white with shock.

Kakashi smiles, then unsheathes his blade.

xxxxxxxx

Deidara is sitting on the hotel bed, quiet as a mouse. It looks as though the reality of his situation is sinking in.

"You're not really from that town I was staying in, are you?" He mumbles, peering up at Minato through his bangs.

"Guilty." Minato smiles, tucking his cloak back into his pack. "I'm from Konoha. But don't worry. I've got no plans to hand you over to my people."

Deidara eyes him, clearly unconvinced.

Minato sits on the other bed next to Deidara's. He stretches, letting out a long, ragged sigh as his muscles ache sharply in unison.

"I'm no missing-nin, but I've technically gone rogue on this mission," Minato says, observing the tell-tale sag of relief in Deidara's shoulders, "I rescued my team instead of completing the objective. And then I overheard your situation while I was scouting and… I've gone completely off-schedule, off the book and off the map, by all accounts. I've never done that before."

"Normally a good boy, huh?" Deidara snorts. "Always doing what you're told, yeah?"

Minato flops back on the bed, "Is it that obvious?"

Before Deidara can shred his self-esteem even further, there's a quiet knock at the door. Minato swings his feet over his bed and casually taps the heel of his foot against the floor three times. The person at the door knocks twice more, and Minato relaxes.

He opens the door, an unpleasant twist in his gut at the sight of Obito splayed across Kakashi's back, his side a mass of partially-healed wounds.

"In." He says, clipped, and pushes the door closed with a little more force than necessary.

Rin immediately directs Kakashi to lay Obito down on the empty bed, her arms straining under the weight of several heavy bags. Minato glances at the floor. There's small traces of blood in the muddy footprints they both tracked into the room. Minato fixes his gaze on the ceiling and questions his life, not for the first time that day.

Deidara stares, fascinated, as Rin swallows several pills, cracking her knuckles and spreading her hands over Obito's much-abused body.

"If he starts to bleed again, grind up a blood-replenishing pill and sprinkle it in his water," Rin tells Kakashi, "We need to keep him hydrated so he can start replacing the blood he's already lost."

Deidara's hands twist in his lap, his brow furrowed as he takes in the scene. He clearly dislikes not having something to do.

Minato spots the edge of a mouth in his palm, eyebrows jerking up.

Deidara sees him looking and tugs his sleeves down over his fingers, scowling at the floor.

"Hey, is there anything I can do?" Minato asks, addressing Rin. He's still avoiding names, just in case. He's pretty sure they can trust Deidara, but 'pretty sure' is not enough to gamble his team's lives on.

"Sure," Kisame's voice grates behind him at the window, "You can give me your name."

Deidara leaps off the bed, landing by Minato's side. Kakashi unsheathes his blade, pointing it directly at Kisame's grinning face. The Uchiha is climbing through the window after his teammate, eyes fixed on Deidara. Minato slings an arm around his shoulders.

"Kids, go." Minato says quietly, eyes on the Uchiha's feet, waiting for him to make a move.

"I'm in the middle of surgery." Rin says, sweat-matted hair falling into her eyes, hands shaking over Obito's chest. Her hackles are raised like an angry cat. She's not moving.

Kakashi has planted himself in front of his team, "We're not leaving you, sensei."

Minato's hand tightens on Deidara's shoulder, then he tugs him behind him.

Minato is bone-tired. He's not sure how many Iwa shinobi he killed to protect his team, but now he's just about ready to do it again to protect an Iwa shinobi who's trembling behind him. It's funny, where the world takes you.

He's still wearing his henge.

"My name is Mugetsu," He says, thinking of how the moon was blotted out by the pile of corpses he created on his first ANBU mission. The night was darker after he arrived. "And your mission is over."

Kisame's grin sharpens.

Minato twirls two kunai in his hands, rolling his neck around to get rid of the knots in his spine. The Uchiha tenses at his approach, Kisame's eagerness only grows.

"If you survive, tell your masters Akatsuki is dead." Minato says calmly.

Kisame's mouth opens to talk, the Uchiha's head turns ever so slightly to listen, and Minato acts.

He throws the kunai and completes the hand-seals for his barrier technique before the kunai even have time to strike.

His barrier is a large orb of chakra that surrounds what he wants to protect, warping away any damage that hits it. The side of the room with Deidara, Kakashi, Rin and Obito, is now pulsing with purple chakra that will repel any force that attacks them.

Minato smiles at Kisame, enjoying the flush of anger swirling across his face like a bold stroke of paint.

He has to kill them both, and Sasori, wherever he might be. He has to do it, and quick enough to save Obito, too. He has to do this.

Minato breathes in, then flashes forward to meet Kisame's blade.

xxxxxxxx

They were stronger than he thought they were.

His chakra reserves might be the stuff of legend, but even they could deplete, and he was achingly close to running on empty.

The battle flashes through his mind in broken fragments.

Kisame's snarling mouth at his throat, the Uchiha's ringed hand reaching for his face, Sasori finally showing up and unleashing poison that flooded the room, leaving Minato dizzy and grinning until his face hurt because finally, _finally_ , he felt he had a reason to let go.

Kakashi's voice, hoarse from screaming for him to release the barrier and let him fight.

Eventually it ached viciously whenever he summoned chakra, his movements sloppy, less polished, and his vision began to grey over. He was so, so tired, but he could not rest. Not while there were children at his back, people he loved and would give every piece of himself to keep safe.

Kisame's fist sunk into his stomach, a visceral revenge for the blow he'd dealt the Uchiha, and he whispered in his ear, "Akatsuki will never die, old man. That's the point."

Minato gasped, clutching at Kisame's cloak, his chakra pulling in a thousand different directions – amplifying his strength, speed and stamina, coating the walls of his barrier to keep the kids safe from Sasori's relentless attack, maintaining his henge of old man Fujioka, the man who never truly got to grow old, despite his reputation. The gentle civilian who died in violence and war, far too young to look so old. Minato saw his corpse, broken and stiff, his face creased like ancient leather.

 _Fujioka_ , Minato thought, drifting to sleep, _Fujioka deserved a little bit more from life._

Deidara's voice ripped through his peaceful tranquillity, an explosion sending him into silence.

Minato wakes up feeling well-rested and heartsore. The latter is not a totally new sensation, but the former brings up questions. He's grown used to snatching sleep here and there, always being ready for battle at any second, be it during a mission or a surprise invasion on home turf. He stays still, listening intently.

A scrape of wood on his right – a chair being pulled next to his bedside. Because he _is_ in a bed, which is strange, because the last thing he remembers is the mission to destroy Kannabi bridge going sideways in the worst way imaginable. He's pretty sure no one thought to bring beds. He's also sure if Iwa caught them, they would've killed them all. Especially him. But then – a flicker of pain in his skull, throbbing through his temples, bringing memory with it. There was more after the bridge, there were black cloaks with red clouds, the leering maw of a shark in a man's face, a too-young recruit hiding fear beneath blustering cockiness, Obito twisted and broken and _wrong_ –

"Minato-kun." The Sandaime's voice, a croak more akin to one of Jiraiya's summons than the esteemed Hokage.

Minato opens one eye, squinting through the pain, "Hokage-sama," He replies, managing a crooked grin, "Would you care for a mission report?"

Rather than the amusement he expects, he's surprised to see sorrow cross the Sandaime's face. When he speaks, his hands squeeze his pipe almost to the point of snapping, "Minato-kun, what happened? The Yamanaka clan could only verify that you and your team were in fact, yourselves, but beyond that, your memories all have a strange blip right after the Kannabi Bridge Mission."

Ah. That'll be the space-time ninjutsu shenanigans _._ He'd been hoping he wouldn't have to explain that, mostly because he couldn't.

"I abandoned my mission in order to ensure my team's safety." Minato says, gazing steadily back at the Hokage. He knows what he did, and he makes no apologies for it. He knows Kushina would do the same, if she had a genin team. Hell, she'd do it for _his_ team. "I found Obito in a near-death state, and Kakashi and Rin were surrounded by Iwa nin. I killed the enemy shinobi and grabbed the team, preparing to transport them to safety. One of the surviving nin threw a jutsu at the exact moment I activated mine, and instead of ending up near our camp, we wound up in unfamiliar territory. My priority was finding Obito some help, so we utilised a nearby clinic. We ran into a little trouble with a missing-nin from Konoha, an Uchiha with advanced Sharingan. I've never seen him before. There was also a large, hulking man from Suna, and a terrifying shark-man from Kiri. All missing-nin. All powerful. They were trying to forcibly recruit some kid – and you _know_ I hate bullies – so I had to step in. We talked, things didn't go as well as hoped, and we had to take the kid and run. They chased us down, I passed out, and, uh… here I am. End of report, I guess."

Sarutobi's eyes are gleaming with unshed tears. Minato struggles to sit up, unsure why comfort is needed, but always prepared to give it.

"As concise a report as I remember you giving," Sarutobi says hoarsely, "But I'm afraid it only leaves me with more questions than answers. For one, how old are you?"

Minato frowns. Is this some belated test for a concussion?

"Twenty-three, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi nods, lighting his pipe with a twitch of his fingers. He takes a deep breath, steeling himself, then continues, "And who is the Yondaime Hokage?"

 _Huh?_ This _must_ be a test. "There isn't one. Unless… did you appoint a successor while I was out of the village?" He asks, momentarily put-out, until a thought occurs to him and he perks up. "Is it Kushina?"

Sarutobi douses his pipe abruptly, thrusting into his jacket pocket without a word. He pinches the bridge of his nose, bending over in his chair. It looks as though a heavy weight has settled on his back. Minato watches, fear starting to creep over him. What could have happened to make the Hokage so… fragile?

"Do you not remember the Kyuubi?" Sarutobi asks, something pleading in his voice.

Minato scowls, "Of course. I just don't think it's any reason to stand in the way of Kushina's dreams. She keeps a tight leash on the Kyuubi and whatever happens, I can always help her keep it at bay. We're a team. You know what she always says – if she's not the Yondaime, she'll be the Godaime, and if not – "

"Minato-kun," Sarutobi interrupts, his voice grave and tight with repressed emotion. He lays a hand over Minato's. He flinches, having failed to notice he'd formed fists at some point, clenching his bedsheets in hand. "Minato-kun, I am so, so sorry."

"Just tell me." Minato says, his voice snapping out a flat order. He doesn't care that this is his superior, this is about _Kushina_. He needs to know.

"From what I can tell, you are not in the time you think you are," Sarutobi says slowly, "Nor, perhaps, the _world_. Because the Minato of my world destroyed Kannabi bridge, and was too late to save Uchiha Obito."

Minato stares.

Sarutobi takes his hand, his eyes wet with unshed tears.

"Nohara Rin died in the same year as the Kannabi Bridge Mission, sacrificing herself for her village. The next year… Minato-kun, the next year, _you_ died. Sacrificing yourself for Konoha. I'm so sorry."

Minato feels the world fall away from him. Sarutobi catches him, his hands unbearably gentle against Minato's disembodied flesh. He loses himself for a few seconds, deaf and blind to all but the roar in his thoughts. _Obito died… Rin died…_ _ **I**_ _died._

"A-and," He hears himself say finally, tears choking his voice, "Kushina… she…?"

"Kushina died with you, sacrificing herself for her village… and your son." Sarutobi says, gripping him tight. "You have a son, Minato-kun. He's alive and well."

Minato pushes him away blindly, collapsing off the bed and onto the floor.

His face is wet.

"Kushina wasn't pregnant, I haven't seen her in months," Minato says harshly, "And she isn't _dead_. I would… I would know. I would feel it. And I don't. She's still here, I know it."

"Kushina died when the Kyuubi was extracted from her. You sealed it into your new-born son, saving Konoha from its rampage. We owe everything to you, and to Kushina. I wish I could give you better news, Minato-kun. You are the Yondaime Hokage, somehow delivered back to Konoha alive and well."

"Well?" Minato echoes, then gives a bitter laugh.

"Minato-kun… you are not the Namikaze Minato that I knew. That man was buried almost a decade ago. That man lost almost his entire team. You have not. Your team are still alive. You somehow managed to travel through time and space after the Kannabi mission, ending up here. I can take you to see Obito and Rin, and – "

"What about Kakashi? And the kid we picked up, Deidara?" Minato asks, pulling himself up slowly, because it's war and he cannot give himself more than a brief moment to mourn the loss of his world. There will always be a village that needs him. And he hates it.

"They are all fine," Sarutobi soothes, patting his arm, "Obito is in a makeshift intensive care unit, here in the ANBU barracks. Kakashi and Rin are with him. Deidara is being questioned. He's being cooperative to a point, insisting on making sure 'the old geezer' is alright. I'll assume that is you. The forces that found your team said you were wearing such a strong henge that it lasted for an hour after you lost consciousness. That was one of the facts that initially swayed me of the truth of your identity. Not many shinobi are strong enough to maintain techniques without consciously willing it."

Minato sits back down on the bed. He's considered he might be trapped in an illusion, or being tested in some way, because nothing feels real. Nothing is concrete. He's lost everything, except for –

His head snaps up, "Wait. You said the other me lost 'almost' his entire team. Does that mean – "

"Kakashi survived, yes," Sarutobi says, looking happy to have good news to deliver, "And he's around your age, now. Your son is – "

Minato holds up his hand, face crumpling at the word. There is no son. There can't be, not without Kushina. It's as if this hypothetical child sprang up from the earth. He isn't real. If he was, if Minato really does have a child, and now he has to live with knowing Kushina will never meet him…

Minato slowly lay back down on the bed, feel tears pour sluggishly down his face. They drip across his nose, splashing onto his pillow. It's like a tap turned on rather than a burst dam, just a steady, constant flow of grief.

He curls up, silent sobs wracking his frame.

Sarutobi's face twists in pain, but Minato closes his eyes, lashes wet and clumped together, not wanting to witness someone else's second-hand grief. Bad enough that he lost her. Worse that he wasn't there. But to experience her death through another person's account is torture.

"I'll leave you alone for a moment." Sarutobi says, pulling the blanket up to Minato's chin. Minato abruptly remembers that Sarutobi is a father. Just like him.

"Wait." Minato says, gripping the Sandaime's cloak.

He turns, concern clear on his face, "Yes?"

"The Minato of this world... do you think he's with Kushina, now?" Minato asks, blinking the tears away so he can look into Sarutobi's eyes, unimpeded. He needs to see the man's honest opinion.

Sarutobi smiles gently, "I do, yes."

There's a pause as Minato closes his eyes, breathing in deeply.

He shifts, then breaks out into a blinding grin, "Then I guess I better stick around. Three's a crowd and all that. Kushina would get mad if I called it quits here."

The look Sarutobi bestows upon him is so warm, so fond, that Minato feels the first stirring of hope since he woke up in this backwards version of his life.

"Hokage-sama… my son. What's his name?"

The look of fondness only increases at the mention of the boy. Sarutobi squeezes Minato's shoulder and says, "Naruto."

Minato laughs wetly, sniffing, and scrubs his face clean of grief.

"Of course," He says, getting ready to stand up and face the day, "Of course."

* * *

Hello, friends!

So I… I started another Naruto time travel AU. At this point, I don't think anyone's surprised, right?

I shamefully got this idea from a Naruto video game in which I pitted Rin, Obito and Kakashi against Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto, and then I was like, boy I sure wish these crazy kids could've met! And then brain was like _wait_. You could make that. You could make it happen.

And so I did.

In case this is confusing, the Minato of this fic is NOT exactly the same as canon Minato. He went back for his team earlier, abandoning his mission, and managed to save Obito before he could be Madara'd. Then he and the team ended up hurtling through time and space, ending up in canon Naruto, a future in which everything went wrong for Team Minato. But now they're here, ready start fixing shit and getting stuff done!

Kakashi is all about teamwork and protecting his comrades, now! *sobs*

We don't see a lot of Rin in the show, but since she mostly operated during wartime I feel like she'd be a hardened version of Sakura. Much more inclined to violence and acclimatised to gore and unpleasantness. She spent most of this chapter singlehandedly wrestling to keep Obito alive.

In case you were wondering, yes Kisame has a huge, raging hateboner going on for that weird not!civilian old man that knocked him on his arse.

Btw, I'm picturing Minato's henge as looking like Sakura's dad from Cardcaptors. So… a handsome nerd, basically.

I'm so happy I get to write post-Kannabi Team Minato WITHOUT Obito's death! So much fun :D

Potential pairings for this fic are: Minato/Zabuza (the main pairing), young Obito/young Kakashi, Sakura/Rin, adult KakaGai and adult Obito/Deidara.

 **Quick poll for fun:** Which fictional character would you marry?

I, for example, would marry Sakura's dad from Cardcaptors.


	2. Chapter 2

Minato has never had a concrete answer for any of the times he wondered _what if_?

Now he does.

During the Kannabi mission, he had endured an agonising moment of indecision – complete his mission or return to his team? At the time, he had no evidence that they were in trouble, nothing to suggest they needed him. Just a bad feeling. But feelings weren't applicable excuses to use when facing the Council on charges of insubordination. Or worse, treason. Basing vital choices during missions on feelings was exactly the kind of thing Sakumo did.

It was that errant thought that made up his mind.

No matter what end Sakumo faced, nothing changed the man in Minato's eyes. He was the pinnacle of shinobi, burning with the Will of Fire, no matter what the village said. He chose to save human lives over a mission scroll, saving his comrades instead of his village's pride.

How could Minato do any less?

But for some reason, this new world's Minato had chosen differently. Perhaps it was something as simple as how he glanced at the slate stone at his feet, the colour reminding him of Sakumo's hair, which then sent him into a reverie about the man himself. Perhaps this world's Minato never looked down, never saw the slate or mused on the man who was his hero. Perhaps he forgot the lessons he had learned at his feet, and chose the mission over his team.

Now, Minato can see the consequences for both actions. If he had remained his own world and time, he would have brought Obito home for medical aid, and he and the rest of his team would be called up in front of the Hokage. The Council would have punished him, and split apart his team. Kakashi would be forced to give up his eye or face the wrath of the Uchiha. Rin might have lost her place at the hospital. And, if what Sarutobi says is true, the war with Iwa might have raged on without the loss of the Kannabi bridge.

But this world's Minato suffered a much worse fate, it seems. He was too late to save Obito, and his success at the Kannabi bridge meant his team were split up anyway, as he was sent on more and more solo missions – the Hokage testing his successor, he realises now – leaving Kakashi and Rin as the last members of Team Minato.

On a mission without Minato, Rin was captured and forcibly turned into a jinchuuriki, then pointed at Konoha to wreak havoc. Rin, his brave, dutiful Rin, threw herself on Kakashi's chidori rather than endanger her village. He was proud of this world's Rin, but wished she could have been a little more selfish. Minato apparently thought throwing Kakashi in ANBU would help him in the aftermath of his endless trauma, and according to the Hokage, it _did_.

Then, on the night of his son's birth, the Kyuubi broke free of its chains and escaped the seal, destroying half of Konoha in the process. Kushina died from the strain of its loss, but not before she gave birth to Naruto. Minato died sealing the Kyuubi back into Naruto – though here is where Minato couldn't help but frown in disbelief. He didn't have a huge ego, just a good knowledge of his talents and limits. He died from chakra expenditure from sealing? The Kyuubi must have put up a hell of a fight.

After that, he'd thought the Hokage was done handing out bad news, but the haunted look in his eyes only got worse as he kept speaking.

Hizashi sacrificed himself for his brother after the Clan Heir was kidnapped by Kumo and the nin they used was killed in the process. The Raikage demanded recompense in the form of the Clan Head's life, and his twin took his place. Kumo couldn't exactly complain upon discovering Hizashi's byakugan was worthless upon death, proving him to be a Branch member.

"Why did you allow Hizashi to comply with the Raikage's orders at all?" Minato asks, confused, "Kumo could deny it all they wished, but they entered the village without permission and attempted to kidnap a child in order to unlock the secrets of her clan. That was grounds for war."

"The village was barely in peacetime," Sarutobi says, rubbing his temples as if pained, "We'd suffered great losses in the last war, and I wanted to take any action I could to prevent another war breaking out."

"You didn't take action at all, Hokage-sama. You just allowed things to unfold as they did. Hizashi's trickery might have baited Kumo into trying again, or even declaring outright war as the terms of their demands were not met. You should – I mean, _I_ would have told the Raikage that the unauthorised presence of his shinobi in my village was enough for war, regardless of why he was there. If he responded with war, then we would be at war. If he tried to reach an accord, I would have allowed it. Any other action makes us look weak, Hokage-sama." Minato says, trying very hard not to lose his patience.

Yes, taking any action that plunges the nation into battle once more is hard to contemplate, but it was not unprovoked. A child nearly suffered a horrible fate, and their uncle died in their father's stead. And Sarutobi's response was to do nothing, afraid of making any decision at all. That inaction could have convinced Kumo of Konoha's weak leadership made them vulnerable enough for attack.

Sarutobi only hangs his head, "It is easy to say so in the aftermath, when we _know_ Kumo did not press their luck once more, but at the time… at the time I was advised to take the gentlest path, to protect Konoha by refusing to engage with the hostilities of other nations. Considering the peace held, I have to stand by my decision."

Minato opens his mouth to argue, but the Hokage holds a hand up to stop him.

"I… I'm afraid I am not done, Minato-kun. There is one other event that occurred in the years after your death. Two years ago, Uchiha Itachi slaughtered the entirety of his clan, except for his little brother, Sasuke."

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Minato wondered at Sarutobi's technique for delivering bad news, handing out the blunt and uncensored version without hesitation. He tried not to prolong the agony, but instead intensified its effect all at once.

Minato feels the knowledge rush through him, the faces of his friends, former teammates on missions, the people he'd grown up with and admired, all gone. Every single one of them. All except a child he'd never met, and –

Minato springs up off the bed in sudden realisation, " _Itachi_?" He demands, rounding on the Hokage, "Fugaku and Mikoto's son? He killed them too?"

"Yes." Sarutobi winces, something dark passing over his face. "We still have no idea why. The reason he gave his brother was to 'test his strength.'"

Minato goes cold, "He escaped Konoha and joined Akatsuki."

The man he met, with the cold, toneless voice. He's the little boy Minato once knew, and the mass-murderer who wiped out Konoha's most powerful clan in a night. _That_ 's who he fought?

"Yes." Sarutobi says again, his voice a faint whisper.

If Obito had survived the Kannabi mission, he would have lived only to be murdered by a loved one, Itachi, his cousin…

Minato's mouth firms into a hard, uncompromising line, "Will he come after his brother again? When he's older, perhaps, to 'test his strength' once more? What kind of protection is the boy under?"

"Sasuke is being watched by ANBU at all times."

"Any living with him or near him, at least? Someone he could go to if – "

"Sasuke still lives in the Uchiha Compound, and he refuses to allow anyone else entry, nor will he consider moving elsewhere."

"And… you can't overrule a child?" Minato frowns. "I know he is technically Clan Head, as his relatives are either dead or criminals, but he's a minor, surely? Or has he already graduated from the Academy?"

"He's the same age as your son, and still has two years left of school before he becomes a genin."

The mention of Naruto warms him. His son is in the Academy, not far off graduation. But this other boy…

"He shouldn't be living in that place all on his own." Minato shakes his head. "It's not right. It'll wreck his psyche even further. He needs a warm, safe home environment with someone strong enough to defend him from his demons."

"That cannot be you." Sarutobi says firmly, giving Minato a knowing look. "But hopefully, Obito will be able to live with his cousin, depending on what we decide to do with you four."

"Five." Minato corrects with an innocent smile. "Deidara counts. I've adopted him."

"No, you haven't." Sarutobi pins him with a firm look.

Minato shrugs.

It's been a long time since anyone's been able to tell him what to do.

xxxxxxxx

Sarutobi just smiles when Minato asks to see his son, not bothering to be discreet about it when he fobs him off, promising to take him to his team instead.

Two ANBU escort Minato to a small room, giving him sharp salutes before the open the door and walk in with him.

Kakashi sits on a bench, deep in thought.

"Minato-sensei," He says simply, the faintest tremble in his voice. His Sharingan is covered by an eyepatch, for some reason.

Minato is just starting to worry about it when suddenly he's seized around the middle by the younger boy, Kakashi's arms wrapping around his stomach in a tight, desperate grip. Minato feels his face slacken in shock, _Kakashi_ instigating physical contact? Unheard of.

He places a hand on the boy's head, feeling the tremors coursing through him. He bends down a little, not breaking Kakashi's grip, and says, "Hey, Kakashi. What's all this about, huh?"

Kakashi buries his face in his stomach, voice coming out muffled and angry, "Idiot. Thought you were dead. So selfish, sensei."

Minato looks up at the ANBU in the room, two relatively high-ranking soldiers by the rigid, stone-like stances they had. He smiles in apology, then flicks his hands to dismiss them. It's an automatic move made possible by years of covert work, years of being called _taichou_ and having people listen to him without question.

He isn't expecting them to respond, let alone obey him, which is why it's so strange when they both simply bow and disappear with a flicker. He looks around to see if the Hokage had entered the room and dismissed them himself, but no, it's just him.

And Kakashi, who appears to be trying to burrow through Minato's stomach with his face, sniffling all the way.

"Why am I selfish? What have I done this time?" Minato asks, hearing his voice go gentle and honeyed now he's alone with one of his kids. He's been caught out for babying his team before – Kushina never let him hear the end of it when she overheard him singing a very tired Obito to sleep after a particularly difficult mission.

 _Kushina_.

He winces, still unused to the piercing pain between his ribs at the thought of his wonderful, perfect wife. Her name used to bring him joy so pure it was like golden fireworks went off in his mind whenever he heard it. He used to whisper her name to himself just before he went to sleep on missions, her memory a beacon in dreams to keep him safe.

Kakashi pushes back to scowl up at him, an impressive feat given that only one eye was visible. "You're selfish because you forced us all to stay behind that barrier. You refused to even give us the chance to help, you nearly killed yourself taking on _three_ S-rank missing nin after fighting up to a _thousand_ Iwa nin and expending so much chakra you nearly died of exhaustion! Do you know what it's like to have to watch someone you – someone you don't want to die – do you even – "

Minato kneels down, tugging Kakashi into a proper hug. He pretends not to hear the weak sobs, or feel how his own body shook along with Kakashi's.

"I am beyond sorry that I forced you to endure that. I wasn't thinking of how you'd feel, I was solely focused on keeping you safe." Minato says lowly.

"Then you should have let us help!" Kakashi snaps, voice ragged, "Protocol dictates that if more than one member of a team is combat ready – "

"But you weren't." Minato says.

Kakashi's sobs halt. He makes a watery, confused noise.

"None of you were ready to take on three S-rank missing nin," Minato says bluntly, "If you'd joined the fight, my attention would've been split between taking care of you and stopping them. Not to mention the fact that you were exhausted, too. Look at this logically, Kakashi – what could you have done?"

Kakashi looks away, audibly gritting his teeth when he says, " _Something_. But you didn't give me the chance. You took that away. Why can't you let people help you? You don't always have to do things on your own, sensei."

Minato nearly gapes. Thisadvice came from _Kakashi_ , his most headstrong, stubbornly independent student?

"Anyway, _one_ of us was more than ready to take on the missing nin." Kakashi grumbles, eye cutting away and staring into the distance, clearly deep in memory.

Minato tilts his head in question, since Kakashi was clearly not referring to himself.

There was a polite flare of chakra accompanying an equally polite knock at the door.

"Come in." Minato calls, standing up.

Sarutobi enters the room, no longer in full Hokage regalia. Without it, Minato can see what he missed the first time. His hair has gone completely grey, a visual shock to Minato's system to see. In his time, the Hokage was an untouchable force of nature, immune to perils of time.

"Good morning, Minato-kun, Kakashi-kun," Sarutobi says, eyes wrinkling as he smiles at them both, "Are you ready to see Rin and Obito?"

"Is it morning?" Minato wonders. The ANBU barracks are not exactly a haven of light and warmth. For one thing, there's no windows. Also, it's underground.

"About half ten," Sarutobi confirms, chuckling a little, "Now, Kakashi has spent almost every waking moment with his team, so I'll understand if he – "

"I'm going." Kakashi snaps out, insolence bare in his voice.

Minato nudges him, mortified, "Kakashi! Show some respect!"

"No," Sarutobi says gravely, "In matters such as these, decorum is of no import. I am aware this has been almost too much to bear, Kakashi-kun."

Kakashi doesn't apologise, but his defensive posture shifts, his shoulders lowering along with his defiant chin.

Minato tugs him close.

xxxxxxxx

They're all being housed in the ANBU barracks, which is an underground building located just south of the Hokage Tower. It's mostly a maze of dorms, common areas, training rooms, and canteens. Minato remembers his time here fondly. He got so, so hazed.

Sarutobi leads them to an old dormitory Minato remembers faintly as having housed the most senior soldiers. When they enter the room, it's clear it has been repurposed as a hospital. The beds are covered in white sheets, the walls and floor are scrubbed clean, and there is a sterile smell hanging in the air.

And, curled up in the closest bed, is Obito.

Minato flashes over to him without thinking, eyes scanning the length of the boy. His jaw tightens at the sight. Obito's right side is a mass of bandages. His face is pale and grey, close to the pallor of a corpse. His brow is furrowed in pain, sweat beading the skin. When Minato looks down, his hand is clenched into a fist and shaking.

It's only when someone clears their throat that he remembers he isn't alone, and he looks up sheepishly.

Rin is sitting on the bed next to Obito, a sweet smile lighting up her face. Minato automatically smiles back, until he notices her hair.

It's been partially-shaved. As if she'd undergone surgery.

"Rin, what happened?" He asks, aghast.

She touches her uneven hair ruefully, "You don't like the new look? Ha, it's okay, sensei. It's nothing serious, I'm already on the mend. It's Obito that – "

"It was Deidara," Kakashi bursts out.

"Oh for – no it _wasn't_ , Kakashi, you absolute – "

Minato narrows his eyes, "Explain."

Rin sighs, shifting on the bed. He catches a better glimpse of her shaved head, sees the thick, black stitches running through her scalp.

"You were losing." She says simply, arranging herself in a prim posture. He'd think she was unaffected by the subject, but the hands folded neatly in her lap were shaking. "You were clearly exhausted, getting slower by the second, and we were trying everything we could to break the barrier and help you. Nothing we did worked, and then you fainted and the shark-man tried to grab you, and Deidara… Deidara threw some kind of explosive directly at the barrier."

Minato's barrier repels damage from the _outside_ , not the inside. It's not something he'd ever considered.

"Right in front of Rin," Kakashi says bitterly, "As if she wasn't even there. Just part of the obstacle."

"And then he took on the missing nin to save you, sensei," Rin says pointedly, " _All of them._ He broke through the big guy completely – he turned out to be a puppet!"

"None of which you saw, because you were _unconscious_ ," Kakashi says scathingly.

"I was basing it on your report, so it should be accurate, unless you think otherwise." Rin snaps.

The two glare at each other until Minato coughs politely, "And then…?"

"Then I joined in the fight, after securing Rin and Obito. We didn't fight for long before the Konoha nin showed up," Kakashi informs him.

"If we were in our own time, I'd be recommending promotions for every single one of you," Minato says, unable to keep the pride from his voice. Rin beams unrestrainedly. Kakashi shuffles awkwardly on the spot.

"I would second that recommendation," Sarutobi says, his smile edging towards weary, "Were we not faced with an unprecedented issue. Nothing like this has ever happened before, so we are struggling to know what to do about it. Four Konoha nin travel through time and potentially worlds, and end up back with us, safe and sound. Three of you are supposed to be, if you'll forgive me, killed in action."

Rin's smile fades. She glances at Obito. Kakashi sits next to her wordlessly, ignoring the grateful look she gives him in response.

"Who is 'we,' Hokage-sama?" Minato asks. "Who else knows about us?"

"A handful of trusted advisers. The ANBU have been informed that their barracks are no longer secure, and they are now being housed in the depths of T&I. A few remain – the ones I trust without a shadow of a doubt."

The ones that bowed to Minato, then.

"And how are the patients?" He asks, gesturing from Rin to Obito. "How long until they're both fully-healed?"

"Rin-chan's condition is much improved. After suffering multiple injuries from the explosion, she's almost back on her feet. And Obito… His condition is more complex. His recovery may take a while, yet." Sarutobi says.

Minato glances at Kakashi's new eyepatch, the angry red gashes on Rin's head, and Obito's frail, bone-white body.

He drums his fingers along the mattress, a restless tic long buried since his youth, and plasters an expertly-fake smile on his face, "Well, Obito is always late, after all. We're used to waiting for him."

Rin laughs.

Kakashi shakes his head, but there's fondness in his eye as he gazes at his bedridden friend.

Well. It only took two disastrous missions for his mismatched mess of a team to become friends. If there's one good thing to take from all of this, it's that.

xxxxxxxx

Minato is idly tossing several kunai into the air, catching them all with the tips of his fingers before lazily hurling them up again. He's been experimenting with his aim, knocking one kunai into another to disrupt the path of a third.

There's little else to do around here.

It's been two days since he woke up in the barracks, two days of restless inactivity and barely-restrained tension. He's spent almost all of his time with his team, all of them waiting for whatever this is to end. It's like being under quarantine when no one will tell you what's wrong with you.

He scowls, flicking a kunai to dislodge another from the ceiling. He catches it, watching the first kunai sink into the ceiling where the other had been previously.

A knock at the door, without the accompanying flare of chakra.

Not the Hokage, then.

Minato slips the kunai into his sleeve and rolls over, stomach muscles tensed to allow for quick movement, just in case he needs to leap up.

"Come in," He calls, throwing his voice across the room. It's a parlour trick he learned in this very building, learning how to make his words sound as though they came from somewhere else. He also did an excellent impression of Maito Dai.

Shikaku enters the room, looking about a decade older than he had the last time they met.

Minato stares.

Shikaku stares back.

"Nice beard," Minato grins.

Shikaku laughs, a little too loudly, and sinks against the wall, shielding his eyes with one hand.

Minato gets off the bed, concerned, but Shikaku gestures for him to stay where he is.

"It's really you." He says quietly. He takes his hand away, and Minato is shocked to see tears glitter in his eyes.

"Shikaku – "

"You know me. I have to verify the truth with my own eyes before I'll believe it. And the Yondaime appearing out of nowhere after twelve years is a particularly difficult pill to swallow unseen."

"Not Yondaime," Minato corrects gently, "I was only ever a jounin sensei, in my time."

"Sarutobi-sama has been clinging to the hat for the past decade, while threats nip at his heels. It's hard for any man to hold power for so long, especially one who doesn't want it anymore. If the decision is made to reveal your presence, he'll ask you to succeed him." Shikaku says, dark eyes focused on Minato's face. He's always appreciated how Shikaku wore his intellect out in the open, sacrificing subterfuge for integrity. He'd never pretend _not_ to be analysing your every move, but his candidness made it hard to mind the probing looks and pointed words.

"I think I'll spare future Academy students from having to work out the complicated issue of the Sandaime and Yondaime's years of leadership intertwining," Minato says lightly.

"You may not have a choice," Shikaku says, "If you are exposed to the general public, they'll demand you take back the hat. Not to mention the murky legality of Sarutobi's current reign. Never before has a former Hokage come back from the dead. You are legally the Hokage until you retire, die, or are declared unfit to lead by the Council. This means, Minato, that you are the current Hokage."

"No," Minato says easily, "I'm not. _I_ was never accepted as Hokage in my time. I was close, I'll admit, but the man you see before you never reached higher than jounin. Dig up this world's Minato, if you like. _That's_ your Yondaime."

He's known Shikaku for a long time, so he catches the barely-perceptible flinch that crosses his face. He softens, regretting his harsh words. Clearly, Shikaku took losing his death harder than he'd thought.

"I'm sorry," Minato says, sincerity suffusing his words.

Shikaku waves it off, a little smile on his face. There's a few more scars than Minato remembers, and they twist as he talks, "Don't worry about it. Unless you want to talk about _feelings_ instead of what I plan to do with your team?"

Minato can't help the grimace that springs up at the thought, more for Shikaku's benefit than his. He's fine with a little emotion, but if the other man hasn't changed much since they last saw each other, he'll still shrink away from open sentiment.

Shikaku chuckles, then pulls up a chair at the desk, automatically filling it with his lazy sprawl.

"Okay. Here's the plan. We're going to reintroduce you all to Konoha, but not as yourselves. You'll all be given new identities and histories. Obito first, as he needs medical attention. He'll be smuggled out of the village, and then taken back in by civilians – several of my contacts – who will claim to have found a badly injured Uchiha. One of them will be a medic-nin, explaining his partially-healed injuries. Obito will become Hisato, one of the few Uchiha who lived outside of the village. Then a few months later, you will return under a false name and henge after a decade-long mission. Your identity will be intentionally suspect – we want people to believe you were black-ops type who was deep undercover. There's no other way to explain your skills or the length of time you were out of the village. Not to mention the fact that no one in living memory will recognise you. Rin will be a medic-nin transferring from a nearby clinic, simple enough. And then finally Kakashi will get a letter from his half-brother whose mother just died, leaving him alone with no guardian. Kakashi will be informed ahead of time of the situation, so we're not leaving it up to chance. The four of you will be taken out of Konoha and then smuggled back in at different times. I predict that Obito – or Hisato – will make the biggest impact on the village. An Uchiha survivor is a valuable pawn to some, an enemy to others, and a chance of redemption for the rest. I doubt anyone will care about Rin, as she'll be seen as just another local transfer. You might make some waves, claiming Naruto as your son after all this time, but Obito's arrival will distract from that. Kakashi having a little brother will be gossip at best. We just need to smoothly deliver you all into your new lives."

"I have a question. How long are we expected to live under fake identities?"

"For as long as the Hokage deems necessary. I think he's hoping Kiri will sort itself out, and that a solid peace can be found with Iwa and Kumo. Your reappearance would not help the tensions between villages, especially as you don't want to be Hokage again. If you did suddenly emerge as the Yondaime, there's a chance it would scare the other villages into – "

"It's not going to happen." Minato says apologetically.

Hokage was Kushina's dream.

"I know, I know," Shikaku gives a rueful smile, fiddling with his goatee, "It'd probably cause more problems than it would solve, anyway."

"Shikaku?" Minato starts, a little hesitant. "You mentioned my son. What's he like?"

Shikaku looks amused, "Kushina."

Minato feels the tears well up before he can look away, so he sees Shikaku's sympathy, somewhat blurred by his own emotion.

"I was always envious of your marriage, you know." Shikaku says casually, but since it's about _feelings_ , it's anything but casual. Minato wipes his eyes, pressing down hard against his cheeks as if to stem the flow. "You and Kushina made the rest of us look bad."

It wasn't hard to do, given that Hiashi married a sickly cousin and Shikaku was railroaded into a relationship by his own sheer laziness rendering him incapable of putting his foot down. Yoshino called the shots no matter what, and in certain relationships it might work, but as lazy as he was, Shikaku was no pushover. Minato had seen his hackles raise in his wife's presence more than once.

"That's only because everyone else married because they had to, not because they wanted to. Not everyone had my luxury of an unimpressive lineage. I was free to choose Kushina, so there was no resentment. Just…"

Just perfect happiness. They argued daily, they couldn't agree on a single thing, but it made things better somehow, keeping them from the comfortable monotony of traditional marriages. Kushina was the first thing he thought of when he woke up, and the last before he went to sleep. It was the same for her.

"She was my friend." Minato whispers.

Shikaku leans forward, patting him on the arm, "You'll find you still have one or two of those kicking around. Genma and Raidou know you're alive. A couple of ANBU, too. Jiraiya will eventually be informed, because he's one of the few who knows Naruto's true lineage, and he'd probably come storming back to Konoha if some random declared himself his father."

Shikaku never says anything by accident.

 _One of the few who knows Naruto's true lineage._

Minato looks into Shikaku's hard, assessing gaze, his own eyes heavy with weariness and growing anger.

"Explain."

And Shikaku does, with the fast-talking quality of a man giving up a long-burdened secret.

Minato listens, growing steadily more distant by the word.

Naruto grew up alone and unloved, because Sarutobi wanted him to be safe from Minato's enemies. Naruto was an outcast in Konoha, because despite Sarutobi's orders to keep knowledge of his jinchuuriki status from the public, it eventually became an open secret. The order was never rescinded. Naruto was still kept in the dark, with no knowledge of why he was so hated and isolated.

Minato breathes out, his chakra rolling with it, a thunderous crash that has Shikaku wincing, scrambling out of his way.

"Where is the Hokage?" Minato asks, mutedly aware that his voice sounds unfamiliar, hard and biting.

"I'll take you to him." Shikaku says, a grimly satisfied edge to his mouth. He must have been ordered not to tell Minato anything unless he was asked outright.

They walk with purpose, Minato's focus solely on the sound of their footsteps, the thundering of his own raging heart. With every step comes a new image of his son – not that he even knows what he looks like, and _god_ , what kind of father can say that? – images of him alone and suffering, no one there to guide him through his difficult journey of as a jinchuuriki.

He can feel the Hokage like a beacon. He's in the makeshift hospital with the kids, not bothering to shield his chakra even though he must be able to feel Minato coming, possibly even the white-hot blinding rage he's churning out.

The overly-solicitous ANBU open the door for him so he doesn't even break stride, charging into the hospital room, immediately zeroing in on his target.

Sarutobi looks old, pale and wrinkled, stress pulling his mouth taut, "Minato-kun – "

"Where is my son?" Minato says, unrelenting. His chakra lashes out unbidden, and only the dim realisation that he's scaring Rin and Kakashi makes him rein it in.

"Right now I believe he is training, working hard to graduate early," Sarutobi says, a faint smile emerging on his face even now, when faced with Minato at the edge of losing his temper, "And after that, no doubt he will visit Ichiraku, his favourite restaurant."

Minato's hands twitch, curling out of fists. Ichiraku was Kushina's favourite, too.

"I want to see him."

"Shikaku no doubt filled you in on his plan, correct?" The Hokage says.

Minato gives a restless, abortive twitch of his shoulders.

"I estimate the time you will have to spend here to be about a year, Minato-kun." Sarutobi says, a touch of sadness in his voice. _He's too used to giving bad news,_ Minato thinks absently, horror spinning through his mind, _he can't deliver it softly anymore._ "You will need the ability to maintain a solid henge indefinitely. All four of you need to develop completely different fighting styles – _especially_ you, Minato-kun. If we set up false identities for you and you come across an enemy you have tangled with before, and they recognise you through your fighting… well. You can see why that would be disastrous. Shikaku, did you mention the specifics of the plan?"

Shikaku gives a one-armed shrug, "Didn't get the chance."

"Would you mind? I believe the entirety of Team Minato should know everything about the plan, before they choose to agree or disagree."

"Disagreeing is an option?" Minato asks, heart racing. All he can think of is _a year_. A year until he can see his son, who is so like Kushina that even second-hand tales of him sting to hear.

"It is," The Hokage nods, folding himself gracefully onto one of the unoccupied bed, "If you want to re-join society as yourselves, then you certainly can. It is difficult to predict the exact ramifications of such an act, so I wouldn't advise it."

Rin is frowning, lost in her thoughts. Kakashi is a mystery, one hand pressed over his already-covered eye. Obito is asleep, his face slack and unguarded.

Sarutobi takes their silence as complicit approval, and gestures for Shikaku to begin talking.

"Obito would become Hisato, a member of the extended Uchiha clan – the few who lived outside Konoha when the massacre happened."

Minato flinches, hastily checking the kids in case they didn't already know, but Rin just swallows, eyes on Obito's still face, and Kakashi's only reaction is to slowly grind his fist against the mattress.

"Itachi hunted the outliers down in the weeks after the massacre," Shikaku says grimly, "But that isn't common knowledge. We'll bring Hisato in, leave him heavily guarded in a private hospital room, and then spread rumours of a miraculous survivor of the attack. When Hisato wakes, he'll give an account of how Itachi attacked him after finally tracking him down. The only person who can contradict this is Itachi himself, and he's unfortunately not in any position to clear his good name. A few months after this, Minato will return to Konoha, under the name of Mugetsu."

Minato jerks, blinking at the other man. _How did he –_

Shikaku smirks, "When you were found, you were still in your henge. Unconscious and damn near chakra exhaustion, and you still maintained your henge. The patrol had no idea who you were, but they saw your team's hitae-ate and dragged them home for treatment. Lucky for you. And as for 'Mugetsu,' well, that's all your Iwa kid can say. 'Mugetsu swore I wouldn't end up here.' 'Is Mugetsu alive or dead, you sons of bitches?' He has a fairly colourful vocabulary, for a boy of his age."

Minato leans against the wall, a bitter twist to his mouth. He _did_ promise Deidara that he wouldn't give him up to Konoha. Foolish.

"So, if you use the same henge and name, rumours will get back to Akatsuki, and they'll know the mystery nin who challenged three of their best is affiliated with us, and has declared himself the father of Konoha's jinchuuriki."

Again, Minato's eyes flicker to the kids. Again, they show no signs of surprise. It's been an illuminating past few days, apparently.

"I thought we were trying to avoid conflict?"

"We want to make Naruto a very unappealing prospect for attack," Sarutobi elaborates, eyes dark with repressed anger, "Akatsuki have been slow to act, but their intentions are clear. They want to grow in strength and number, and target jinchuuriki. Our contacts have discovered this much."

A kunai slips out of Minato's sleeve. He holds it by the point, hilt up, and thinks, his mind on the same razor's edge as his fingertips. _Akatsuki, the same people who tried to turn Deidara into an unwilling soldier, Akatsuki, the people who want my son, possibly for the same purpose_.

He is faintly aware that the other men in the room are growing cautious, unsure of what to do with a silent, armed Minato. No. A silent, armed _Hokage._

"If I must practice using a henge indefinitely, what better parameters than within a year-long mission?" He asks, balancing the kunai with nothing but muscle memory, sheathing his rage-filled chakra away for another time. A time with black cloaks and red clouds, and a score to settle.

"You want to go after Akatsuki." Shikaku says flatly, rubbing his chin.

Minato thinks of Itachi's dispassionate face, Kisame's sharp grin, the desperate rush of adrenaline while facing them.

"I'd say I owe them a second round," Minato smiles.

xxxxxxxx

Obito wakes up to the sound of pages turning, dry, crisp sounds flicking through his mind. He feels pain dimly all over, particularly when he flexes his arm testingly.

To his surprise, a hand comes down over his own, giving him a gentle shake, "Enough of that, Obito." Kakashi mumbles, not looking up from the book he's reading. It's one of Minato's favourites, a luridly-coloured novel by Jiraiya.

Obito can't open one of his eyes. He feels strangely unbothered by this. He's got faint, wispy memories of Rin's hand on his face, the cool feel of her chakra washing over his eye. The sound of her trying to bite back her sobs, painful exhales and shaky inhales, the wet quality of her voice as she promised she would never forget him, _never_ _ever Obito, do you hear me_?

Obito's pulse quickens. Kakashi runs his thumb across Obito's wrist, as if to soothe him. Obito stares up at him, his working eye welling up.

Kakashi is _holding_ his _hand_.

"The world has ended." Obito says. Well, slurs. His tongue feels heavy, lying flat in his mouth.

Kakashi's grip closes around his wrist, steel encasing bone for half a second, then he releases him altogether, throwing himself up and out of his seat.

"Obito!" He says, his single eye wide in astonishment.

"You're wearing an eyepatch," Obito tells him, "You look as dumb as ever, Bakashi."

He's not expecting Kakashi to burst into tears.

Obito splutters in shock, especially when Kakashi gets down on his knees and presses his face into the mattress, hanging onto Obito's wrist like a lifeline.

 _Clone_! He almost shouts. _Imposter!_

He had no idea Kakashi even knew how to cry.

"You're alive," Kakashi murmurs, sniffing hard, "You're really here. With me."

Obito looks around the room, but the most he can see from his reclined position is the ceiling and little else.

"Why would I not be alive?" Obito inquires, his sluggish mind beginning to wake up to the fact that it's not actually normal for him to wake up unable to move.

Kakashi stiffens.

"Obito!" Rin cries, suddenly appearing at his side. "You're alive!"

"I _know_ ," He says, a little annoyed, "I've always been alive. What's the big deal?"

Rin draws back from where she's been sobbing into his chest, her brows drawing together in confusion, "Obito… don't you know?"

"I didn't tell him. I thought it'd be a lot to take in just after waking up." Kakashi says.

Rin nods, agreeing with Kakashi like always. It rankles, like always.

"Excuse me," A dry voice interjects, "I better squeeze in, here. Obito, how are you feeling? What's your pain level on a scale from one to ten?"

 _None of your business,_ Obito thinks waspishly. He's not sure why he's in a bad mood, but it might have something to do with the fact that he can't see anything but the ceiling and the edges of people's faces when they sit on the right side and get really close.

Rin and Kakashi are still crying, though, and it makes Obito begrudgingly set about complying with the mystery voice's question. He tentatively shifts on the bed. About six hands grab him at once, preventing him from moving, but not quickly enough to stop the pain lancing through his back.

He chokes on a cry, coughing hard, which makes the pain light up _everywhere_.

"S'bad," He slurs, forgetting the exact measurement he was supposed to use, "Very bad."

A green hand touches his face. He tries to swat it away, but his arm ignores him.

"Where's Minato-sensei?" He grits out, squeezing his eyes shut. He wants his teacher, with his sunshine smiles and gentle aura of competence. He wants the reassurance Minato's presence always brings without fail, because he knows he's safe as long as his teacher is there.

"On a mission," Rin says quietly, "He'll be back soon."

Obito squints at her.

"Your hair's different," He says, confused.

One side's all shaved off. The other side is too short to reach her jaw. It looks heavily-styled and tomboyish, the opposite of Rin's usual low maintenance but feminine look.

"You look like a boy." Obito says dumbly.

Rin smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

"S'not a bad thing." Obito hurries to say.

"Oh yeah?" Kakashi says, his face coming into view, one amused, dark eye intent on Obito's.

And suddenly, pieces come together.

Kakashi's wearing an eyepatch.

Obito can't feel his eye.

His thoughts are so heavy and slow, twisting and breaking up before he can make sense of them, but this sticks.

"You've got my eye," He says thoughtfully.

Kakashi looks stricken, clutching his hand again. Obito would shake him off if his stupid body would just listen to him.

"It was – it was a gift," Kakashi says wildly, "I'm going to give it back as soon as possible, okay? It's yours."

"Well, yeah," Obito says reasonably.

"Should we tell him what happened?" Rin asks, hushed.

"Which part?" The mystery voice replies, sounding amused.

"I'll just – Okay. Obito, do you remember the Kannabi Bridge Mission?" Rin asks, putting a weird emphasis on the mission's title, like it's some historical event they've been forced to memorise at the Academy.

Obito thinks really hard.

"I remember… I awoke the Sharingan." He says with wonder, staring up at the ceiling. He tries to send a spark of chakra to his eye, but nothing happens. He deflates a little. "And I saved Kakashi. He saved me. Then – or was it before? – I… I fell? I think? And you were there, Kakashi. You cried. And Rin, you touched my face." He recoils, remembering, "You took my _eye_ , didn't you?"

"Obito…" Rin says brokenly.

"Neither of us wanted to do it, but you insisted. You were dying, you made us swear. You wanted part of you to live on. With me," Kakashi says quietly, holding his hand up to his chest.

"I was dying," Obito repeats, then the tears return, swift and vengeful. He wants to curl on his side and sob, but he can't _feel_ his side or see anything and he's not sure if any part of him works at all.

"But you didn't," Kakashi says fiercely, "Minato-sensei saved you. He saved all of us."

"I don't remember that." Obito confesses.

"You were unconscious. You… we'll tell you what happened after then when you're better, okay?"

"Better. So what's wrong with me now? Why can't I move anything?" Obito asks, his eye slowly moving from Rin's face to Kakashi's, guilt written on both.

The mystery voice returns with a face to accompany it this time. A middle-aged Yamanaka says mildly, "You can't move anything? Can you feel this?"

Obito waits, but nothing happens, "Is this a trick question?"

Silence.

"I'm increasing pressure now. Anything?"

Obito snaps, "Any _what_? You're not doing anything!"

Rin's face is trembling, her eyes filled with unshed tears. She's looking at him like she did right before she took his eye.

"Switching legs. Feel anything?"

Obito twitches. There's a faint pressure at his ankle, like fingers lightly pressing into either side of his leg.

"Are you poking me?" He asks.

"A routine test. I'm going to do the same thing again, but higher. Tell me what you feel."

The pressure returns, slightly higher like he said. It brings a spike of pain with it.

"Hurts a bit," He admits begrudgingly.

"Oh, thank goodness," Rin breathes.

He looks up at her, indignant, but she doesn't notice.

The pressure keeps returning up his leg until it gets dangerously close to parts he really does _not_ want to draw attention to right now.

"That's enough," Kakashi says abruptly, apparently feeling the same.

"When did you become a medic-nin?" The Yamanaka replies.

"Ten years ago, didn't you notice?" Kakashi returns acidly. Obito bites back a grin. He can't help but love it when Kakashi is rude to people who aren't Obito.

"Alright, Obito. I'm going to ask you to try to slowly pull your left leg up. Is that alright?" The Yamanaka says, blithely ignoring Kakashi like he doesn't know it's a recipe for disaster. Its ingredients include Kakashi's sharp tongue, kunai, and lightning.

Obito makes a pained noise, concentrating fiercely. He wants to drag his leg back, bend it and put some weight on his foot, like he's about to stand up. He's stuck in the part between wanting and doing, clenching his jaw and thinking _move move move_!

His foot inches back a tiny bit, and Obito curves upwards, trying to keep the movement going, but pain scythes through his spine and he collapses back on the bed, gasping.

"Don't do too much all at once, Obito." The Yamanaka says.

Obito wants to sit bolt upright and shout in his calm face, but all he can manage is to lift his head slightly off the pillow for a few seconds, then drop it back down. His whole body is a lead weight.

"I can't move," He says with deadly, forced calm.

* * *

Hello, friends!

Minato is not happy. Minato is very much. Not. Happy. Sarutobi has spent the last decade imagining what his successor would think of the choices he made after taking back the hat, and now he knows! Not good.

So, I got a few comments about how 'weird' the pairings are and to be honest… there's hundreds of fics with 'normal' (in this case meaning _popular_ ) pairings, so… read those instead of this. Because I find it fun to experiment with new and interesting dynamics rather than rehash the same old same old.

I looked up all the medic nin in Konoha that might have the right security clearance to be brought into the barracks to treat the team, and saw what I _thought_ was Inoichi, and got super excited. It turned out to be Inojin, but I don't care, so Inoichi is now a medic. I don't make the rules.

This chapter was mostly Minato finding out things that make him Super Angry, but that'll change soon enough.

I figured if you drop a boulder on someone, they're gonna have a hard time getting up again. The test Inoichi does on Obito is actually something that a paramedic did with me. The inexplicably grumpy mood Obito suffers is from pain, and I had the same reaction. (I'm totally fine, no worries, but I had the same angry staring contest with the ceiling while dramatically trying to move my leg a tiny bit and I _had_ to use it in a fic)

Minato's hobby was reading Jiraiya's books, apparently. Hence him passing it on to Kakashi in this chap. The poor, innocent soul.

Kakashi's giving Obito his eye back because the constant chakra drain was a buzzkill for older Kakashi, plus, y'know… Obito's alive. I know it's weird for Kakashi not to have Sharingan, but it's weirder for him to insist on keeping it :P

Rin now has a super cute haircut. One side is completely buzzed (and scarred from Deidara's… exuberant attack), and the other side is longish and curly, coming down to her ear.

I was genuinely surprised by the response this fic got? I don't know where you all came from, but I'm very grateful, thank you 3

I'm enjoying the implications of Minato still being technically considered Hokage, if it's like marriage and you have to die or opt-out to end it.

He's going to meet his son soon, btw :)

 **Quick poll for fun:** Would you travel to the past or the future?

Let's say there's zero consequences for the travelling, you won't get irradiated in the future or bayoneted in the past.

I'd go to the past, because why the heck not, yeah? I want to grab so many of the books from my childhood that I can't find, because they all migrated to that place childhood objects go without telling you.


	3. Chapter 3

Minato had once felt nothing but respect and awe for the Sandaime. That was why it was so strange to see the older man so obviously cowed by his anger, guilt-ridden and palpably leaking shame into the air like scolded genin.

Not for the first time, Minato wonders how his future self had commanded so much respect that even his predecessor was shamed by his disapproval. It might have something to do with his sacrifice, since even Shikaku had regarded him with reverence during their reunion, despite living to mock him in Minato's own time. He and Kushina often teamed up against him, pointing out his slight obsession with his hair, his inability to ignore injustice, his weakness for cute things…

And now, Shikaku walks a pace behind him, refusing to fill the empty space on Minato's left. He offered no explanation, just slowed down all the more when Minato hung back to look at him questioningly. And now Minato is stuck walking beside the Hokage, despite the awkward air between them.

Minato had been told often enough that he gave away his trust far too easily, but Minato never saw it that way. He trusted a select few implicitly, and the rare portion that let him down never regained his trust again. It was given freely when earned, but taken away for good when squandered. He'd trusted Kushina, his team, his teacher, a few important friends and allies, and above all else, the Sandaime.

Minato mentally draws a line through _Sarutobi Hiruzen_. The Hokage had shown faint signs of deception from start to finish the moment Minato woke up in this world, but the last straw was finding out what had happened to his son in his absence. What the Hokage had allowed - no, _endorsed_ \- was unacceptable. Minato knew he would never trust the other man again.

He ignores the twinge of pain he feels at the thought. It doesn't matter how much it hurts to lose faith in someone he once trusted above all others. It doesn't matter that the loss comes right after he found out he'd also lost Fugaku, Mikoto, _Kushina_. He still has people he trusts.

"The tunnel system hits a few key locations underneath Konoha. It was the Nidaime's idea," The Sandaime explains as they walk the length of the corridor, "There is an entrance to the Hokage Tower, the ANBU barracks, T&I, and outside the village. Every single one of them requires the chakra of the Hokage to be opened, so they aren't much of a security risk. Not only that, but knowledge of the tunnels is limited to the Hokage, the Council, the Jounin Commander, the Head of the Torture and Interrogation Force, and the Captain of the Intelligence Division."

"How many of them know about me?" Minato asks.

The Hokage's stride slows just a touch, then returns to normal at once, "Myself, Shikaku, Ibiki, and Inoichi."

 _Not the Council. I am a bigger secret than the existence of an underground system of tunnels beneath Konoha,_ Minato muses, then perks up in realisation.

"Ibiki and Inoichi? I haven't seen them around here, but they know about me?"

"They are, respectively, the most senior members of T&I. Inoichi is the medic who has been tending to Obito-kun, and Ibiki has been kept busy chasing down rumours of your return. Fortunately, none of have arisen as far as we can tell."

"It sounds like Ibiki's doing your job, Shikaku," Minato says idly, tossing a look over his shoulder at the older man, "That's odd, don't you think?"

Sarutobi does not wince, or sigh, or give any real sign of his weariness, but Minato reads it on him all the same.

"Ibiki was simply taking over Shikaku's duties while he visited the barracks. Ibiki is due to arrive tomorrow, to take over for Inoichi, who has failed to find out anything meaningful from Deidara - "

"No," Minato says casually.

Sarutobi stops walking. He gives Minato a very mild, quelling look. Minato returns it with a smile.

It seems the burden of Sarutobi's guilt really does weigh heavily on him, since he gives in all too easily, just holding up a hand and shaking his head, "Minato-kun…"

"I apologise for my rudeness, Hokage-sama," Minato says sincerely, "But I already promised the boy I would not allow him to be apprehended by Konoha, and I broke that promise. I won't allow him to be tortured when it's my fault he's here in the first place."

"Inoichi believes it's in our best interests to assimilate him into the village," Shikaku offers, "Iwa is in too shaky a position to protest, though it will undoubtedly harm our relations with them."

"Which have been non-existent beyond violence for many, many years," The Hokage says dryly, "Konoha has allowed Iwa some room to expand, despite that violating the promise they made to us after the war ended. I believe they will allow us to keep one missing-nin, because complaining would risk our… attention. If Inoichi clears the boy, I will grant him a probationary entrance into the village."

"It will take some doing. I hear the boy is… not a fan of compromise. Or Konoha. Or much of anything at all," Shikaku says, mirth flickering in his dark eyes.

"He won't be informed about our real identities, will he?" Minato asks.

"That's a tricky one. He saw both Obito and Rin without henge, and fought alongside Kakashi. I doubt very much that he would put the pieces together without help, but if he said the wrong thing to the wrong person…" Shikaku toys with his goatee, deep in thought.

"He knows me as Mugetsu. He wouldn't recognise my true face, only my henge. Kakashi - forgive me, _Kiyoshi -_ having a similar fighting style to the older Kakashi could be excused by them being from the same clan. And I don't believe the kids are going to be using henge while in the village, so whatever physical differences 'Hisato' and 'Rei' have from Obito and Rin can be excused by time or style changes. I don't believe Deidara was with us long enough to be struck by the changes we will bear by the time we are reintroduced to Konoha," Minato says, shrugging.

Sarutobi nods, "It's a more acceptable risk than informing a missing-nin about the miraculous return of the Yondaime. Speaking of which, would you mind testing a theory for me, Minato-kun?"

Minato quirks a brow at him, "What would I have to do?"

The Sandaime gestures further down the corridor, fishing his pipe of his pocket and idly twirling it between his fingers, "I'm curious to see if the seals of the underground remember you."

Minato follows the Hokage further down the rabbit hole, perking up when a wall of beautifully intricate seals is revealed. He can see them pulsing a gentle blue, reacting to their approach.

"You see, the way the Hokage travels through the village in the event of a crisis, an emergency, or a simple demand for subterfuge, is through these sealed walls. Each Hokage is brought to the underground after they take the hat, and they imbue the seals with their chakra during a ritual in which only the Council and a select few senior members of the village are present. Naturally, there is usually only one Hokage at a time, and when I passed on the title to you, I removed my chakra from the seals. It seemed a poor idea to allow a former leader of the village access to high-security areas simply because they had the good fortune of living to meet their successor. But the Hokage who did not resign did not have the chance to revoke their access to the tunnels, much like this world's Yondaime. I have felt your chakra, Minato-kun, and I believe it is identical to our Minato's, so in theory… you should be able to traverse the underground as you see fit."

Minato blinks at him. He doubts it will ever seem normal that he is in a world in which he was once Hokage, and moments like this certainly underscore that feeling.

Sarutobi smiles, eyes crinkling in amusement. He gestures towards the faintly glowing wall, hundreds of seals etched in stone waiting to be activated, "Go ahead, Minato-kun. Just touch the wall and visualise it opening for you."

Minato is aware of Shikaku's heavy gaze boring through his head. The Sandaime seems content, not concerned in any way that Minato might be a threat to Konoha's security or his own job. He remembers what Shikaku had said, _he'll ask you to succeed him_.

Minato has no interest in shackling himself to a desk and paperwork without fully investigating the world he has dropped into. If he becomes Hokage, it won't be a rushed job. He will earn the position.

He reaches out, his palm meeting smooth stone. The seals are very delicately engraved, interlocking and entwining in beautifully complex ways. Definitely Tobirama's handiwork. Possibly with Mito's help, judging by the elegant swirls some of the seals bear.

Minato funnels the tiniest spark of chakra into the wall.

It lights up like a beacon, swinging open to reveal a deep, black cavern. The air is thick, undisturbed. He can hear the faint trill of birdsong overhead.

"I'm sure you can sense the exit seal," Sarutobi says, "It responds to familiar chakra. In this case, mine and yours. To anyone else, it would not exist, so even if someone were to somehow procure the right chakra signature to open the wall, unless they themselves were the Hokage in question, they would not be able to escape this cavern."

 _They could if they held the Hokage in question hostage_ , Minato thinks mildly. Every system has holes. He makes a mental note of what he has observed, just in case he eventually does become Hokage and is in a position to improve things.

He grins to himself.

"You mean this seal?" He says, flashing across the cavern and gluing himself to its ceiling, hand hovering over a patch of familiar chakra.

The Sandaime laughs warmly, "The very same. Come back home when you can, Minato-kun. I hope your mission will be swift and fruitful."

"Don't make us look bad," Shikaku calls.

"Couldn't if I tried!" Minato says cheerfully, slamming a chakra-filled hand against the seal.

The world warps around him, and he emerges inside a tree.

"Of course," He mutters, knocking his head against the trunk. He can see through the wood as if it was a window, the whole forest laid out before him. He takes a moment to breathe, cautiously putting out feelers to sense the nearby chakra. There's nothing but tiny traces of natural energy coming from the trees, plants and animals.

He flashes out of the tree, glancing around him with great curiosity. He is in the great wood surrounding Konoha, the village itself barely visible on the horizon.

He wonders what situation would call for a Hokage to leave the village in secret. Treachery, either on their part or someone else's. He hopes it never becomes necessary in his lifetime.

Already in his Mugetsu henge, he's free to leap up to the treetops and flash the length of the forest in seconds. He stops, grabbing the tree trunk and closing his eyes. He's been underground for too long. Being bathed in sunlight as it filters through the leaves brings him such a strong sense of nostalgia. He has to take a moment.

He's been fighting Iwa for so long, and yet the war ended while he was gone. The scarred battlegrounds he spent such desperate weeks in have healed in his absence, grass growing over mass graves of slaughtered soldiers and the hell they rained upon the earth. He spent so long feeling homesick and longing for Konoha, and he returned without realising it, then left without seeing it.

He could go back, take in a good look. See what he's missed. Damn the Hokage's orders, rush past the gate guards, track down Naruto and give him the hug of his life. Walk through the Uchiha Compound and seek its ghosts out. Head to Team Minato's designated Training Ground and look for signs of his last remaining student. Go to the Memorial Stone. Find Kushina's name and never leave it.

The breeze is cold against his wet cheeks. He rubs them dry absently, his eyes on the horizon, his thoughts a decade in the past.

The world thinks he's dead.

His son doesn't know his name.

The love of his life is gone.

And yet, there are still people in the world that he loves and trusts.

There's a reason he left Konoha today, and he'll hopefully see him soon.

xxxxxxxx

Deidara hates this fucking place.

He's so ready to blow it all up, even if he is pretty certain it's underground. Iwa nin have a kind of rock sense – they have a feel for knowing the structures that surround them, be it a cave or a building.

He hates the chakra seals on his palms and chest. He hates the shitty room they stuck him in, more like a cheap hotel room than a cell. If it at least had the decency to have barred windows and nailed-down furniture, he wouldn't wake up confused, wondering where the hell he was.

He hates the guy who keeps coming to see him, Yamanaka Who-Cares, with his creepy-crawly voice all _reasonable_ and _nice_. He goes back and forth between talking to him like a normal human being, and scraping the insides of his mind out with a mental spoon. He's just another two-faced hypocrite, one who looks unsettlingly like Deidara's own father. It doesn't do much to endear him to Deidara.

He was very interested in Deidara's explosive kekkei genkai, but asked a lot more questions about the mouths in his palms and on his chest – and yeah, they found that after a particularly humiliating search. They seemed to know what they were looking for before they found it.

Deidara might be young, but he's been around the block. He didn't clam up, he told them as much as he could about Iwa (a lot) and Akatsuki (next to nothing), and didn't try to escape. He didn't even try to resist when the Konoha nin burst into the hotel room, dragging them all back with them. It was mostly because of what Mugetsu had said, the sheepish way he confessed to going rogue to save his team. If he was found with Deidara, a missing-nin, who then put up a fight when confronted with Mugetsu's fellow shinobi, it would reflect badly on the old man.

Not that Deidara cared that much about some middle-aged busybody. He owed him. That was all.

Besides, he escaped Iwa just for the sake of furthering his art. If it came down to it, he could leave Konoha by whatever means necessary.

He's definitely thinking about it now, as Yamanaka Who-Cares blathers on.

"No, thanks. I'm not staying in Konoha," He says flatly, too irritated to even enjoy how Yamanaka's face falls mid-sentence, "And I'm sure as hell not pretending to be your cousin."

"You don't have much of a choice, Deidara," Yamanaka says, his tone deliberately mild, "Unless you really want to stay in a cell for the rest of your life. Which is what the Council would demand, if they knew you were here. The only reason they don't is because Mugetsu insisted you were a good kid, and the Hokage believed him. Here's what I'm really suggesting – you have an established place in the strongest Hidden Village in the world with protection both from Akatsuki and your former village. You would gain ties to one of the strongest clans, with the legitimacy and status that comes with being a Yamanaka. If you get through your probationary period, your restraints will be lifted, you'll be allowed on missions and receive pay like any other shinobi."

"I wouldn't be allowed to create anything," Deidara spits, "So you can quit acting like this would _benefit_ me, as if I wasn't better off on my own. At least I was free."

"Free to be forced into Akatsuki's service." Yamanaka says dryly.

"I'm telling you, they wouldn't have been able to force me. Without these damn seals, I'm pretty far from helpless, yeah."

Yamanaka drums his fingers on the desk, playing at being thoughtful. Deidara can see the sharpness in his gaze. He already knows exactly what he wants to say, but he's stretching the silence out to give the illusion that this hasn't already been set in stone, like Deidara really is making a choice here.

"You can still use your clay techniques. You just won't be allowed to blow anything up. I think that's a pretty reasonable request to make. You can spend this time perfecting your sculptures and expanding your creative horizons. Also, I'll let you set off fireworks and make small, controlled fires under supervision."

Deidara heaves a sigh, "I'm not – that's not what my art is, okay? Art is fleeting, it's an expression of how life is short. That's true beauty, something fragile that stubbornly lives on until it's abruptly cut off before its time. It's like the blossoms in spring, how they bloom so spectacularly for such a short time, then wither and die all at once. If they lasted longer, you wouldn't appreciate them as much, yeah?"

Yamanaka actually seems to be considering what he said, "Like mayflies. No – like _fireflies_."

Deidara blinks, sitting up in his chair, "Uh… y-yeah," He says cautiously, waiting for the catch, "They fit the bill, too. But not as much as explosions. There's nothing like seeing something burn up and turn to ash on the wind, y'know?"

"Hence the fireworks," Yamanaka says, spreading his hands out like an explosion in slow motion, "They're harmless if you use them right, but they make one hell of a bang. If you're not already looking in the right place, you'll miss them. Takes a lot to make a firework, especially a big, spectacular one, but it only takes a few seconds for it to burn into nothing in the sky."

Deidara gazes at the older man, stupefied.

Yamanaka smiles in quiet satisfaction, "So, what name do you want to use?"

Deidara says nothing for a long time, fiddling with the gloves they'd provided to cover his hand-mouths.

"Deidara," He says finally, "If I'm doing this, I'm keeping my name. And I want to design the fireworks before I set them off. Also, be prepared for me to blow up your shitty Hokage Mountain on my way out of this place when I get bored."

Yamanaka pinches the bridge of his nose, "Sure. Yamanaka Deidara, who uses clay techniques, likes setting off fireworks and has extra mouths. There's no way Iwa will make the connection."

Deidara spreads his palms demonstrably, "That's what the gloves are for."

Yamanaka clearly fights the urge to bang his head on the table.

Deidara smirks.

xxxxxxxx

Kakashi and Rin have pretty much set up camp around Obito. They dragged two of the other beds next to Obito's and claimed one apiece. Obito is still grumpy, occasionally confused, and sometimes tearful. Thankfully the tears are rare, though it's always worse when he wakes up, tries to move and remembers what happened all over again.

They haven't told him everything. He remembers being crushed by the boulder, now, but he had to be told how they escaped the Iwa nin, and he still has no clue that they're in the future.

Inoichi says Obito's condition is dependent on his morale, so it's important to deliver the news to him slowly, in bits and pieces, so they don't overwhelm him.

It's hard, though.

Rin feels terrible. She knows how much everyone lost. Even the fact that Minato now has a child is like salt in the wound for him, since he missed his childhood, and according to his terrifying display in front of the Hokage, his son suffered greatly in his absence.

Kakashi is just grateful that he's escaped his future self's losses - Obito, Rin herself, Minato, … all after losing his father, too. Kakashi is stubbornly not thinking about the long-term issues of their journey through dimensions. He's focused solely on helping Obito get better, while doing his best to avoid looking at Rin's new scars.

Rin doesn't actually mind them, though she knows Kakashi wouldn't understand. Kakashi didn't spend the better part of the war being protected and held back at every turn. Kunoichi are rare, medics rarer still, and in the middle of war Rin was considered too important to risk. She spent most of her time healing wounded shinobi in tents, determinedly ignoring the not-too-distant sounds of screaming and fighting, knowing she was forbidden to aid them.

She wanted to, more than anything. Sometimes it felt as though every inch of her was magnetised, drawn to the battlefield with her intense need to be of use.

After she'd woken up in the bed next to an unconscious Obito, Rin had been very gently informed of everything she'd missed while sleeping off her injuries. They'd been rescued by Konoha, but not _their_ Konoha. They were in the wrong place and the wrong time. She was supposed to be dead, but instead she was here with her team. She was supposed to be grieving.

Rin didn't have much to grieve.

Her parents had died in the war. She hadn't missed them. She occasionally stared up at Minato, wondering why he was so kind, waiting for the other shoe to drop, and then she'd remember. Not all adults were like her parents.

Inoichi had shown her the stitches with a small hand mirror. She'd spent a long time angling the glass to get a better look. Kakashi, who should have known better, was livid on her behalf, even more so when she refused to get angry with Deidara. Rin had just examined her newly-shorn hair, soft and prickly to her fingers, and the thick black stitches corded into her flesh.

She liked them. She'd never had scars before, having always been capable of healing whatever minimal wounds she rarely received while being babysat by her own comrades. With her hair like this, half-shaved, half curling down to her jaw, and visible scars on her head, she looked like a real shinobi.

Rin's parents had been extremely traditional. They'd expected her to become a career genin, using her rank to have a slightly elevated position in society - one rung up from a civilian. Instead she'd followed her classmates into war, earning a field promotion and discovering she had a greater taste for warfare than tea ceremonies.

As a child, she always had to be quiet and polite, neat and clean.

Now, she can be whatever she wants.

She's already picked a new name to use in Konoha, to avoid being identified as the long-dead Nohara Rin.

She's now Tsurugi Rei, a tomboy medic who's transferring to Konoha from a nearby clinic.

Inoichi said she can either cover up her clan markings, or have more added to disguise them. She's chosen to add to them, so at some point one of the ANBU guards is going to give her some new facial tattoos. She's pretty excited about it.

Kakashi chose the name Kiyoshi, which Rin is never going to remember. He's already insisting on being called Kiyoshi at all times, even when they're alone. Apparently subterfuge relies on commitment to verisimilitude - which is what Kakashi had said, word for word, when Rin accused him of enjoying himself too much.

But when Obito's awake, Kakashi goes back to normal, all his focus intent on his injured teammate.

It's good to see, though a little strange. Rin's used to the two of them yelling at each other, so she can't help but be confused by this turn of events.

Obito slumps in his bed, exhausted just by trying to sit up, "Okay," He says wearily, "Okay. Tell me everything. I can handle it."

Rin and Kakashi both go to his side at once, Rin on his left, Kakashi on his right.

Inoichi furrows his brow, clearly considering his options.

Obito isn't an idiot, and he's been demanding the truth endlessly. Inoichi had wanted to spoon-feed the news to him over time, but that might just make him angrier and angrier if he feels he's missing the full picture. Rin wants him to know more than anything, but she's also terrified for him to find out. She can't bear the thought of him being in even more pain.

Rin takes Obito's hand, lightly stroking his knuckles. She knows how hard this is going to be to take in. Finding out they were years into the future was already difficult to understand. Everything else on top of it - Rin, Obito, Minato and Kushina's deaths, the Kyuubi incident, the Uchiha massacre, _everything_ \- just made it beyond impossible to absorb.

And then Inoichi slowly, quietly tells Obito everything.

The revelation of the year they're in just makes Obito look incredulous.

The Uchiha Massacre leaves him a wreck for over an hour, refusing to even entertain the possibility that it was true. It takes a very long time for him to stop crying. It takes even longer for him to hesitantly ask for more information.

The news of his death makes Obito gasp, his hand covering his missing eye. Kakashi does the same, lowering his head until it almost touches the mattress.

Rin's death makes Obito sob wretchedly, clutching her hand as if it will be torn away any second. Rin grips his hand in return.

Inoichi gives them some time to recover.

"R-Rin," Obito cries, "I can't believe you - "

"I'm alive," Rin says softly, wiping his tears, "And so are you."

"Kakashi, are you okay?" Obito says, sniffing, "W-what happened to you?"

Kakashi flinches, turning pale. He shifts back, "I'm fine, apparently. Alive and well."

Inoichi returns to Obito's bedside, "I wouldn't go that far," He says to Kakashi, though it's said with wry amusement, not the matter-of-fact voice he's used up until now to deliver bad news, "You're perpetually late and forever reading porn."

Kakashi stares at him, aghast. The tips of his ears turn pink.

Obito laughs wetly, "No way! Kakashi? I knew you were a secret pervert all along!"

"I'm not!" Kakashi insists.

"It wouldn't be any weirder than _this_ ," Obito says, gesturing at Kakashi's close proximity, "I don't get why you keep…"

"What?" Kakashi says hotly, a challenging note ringing in his voice.

"Acting like you care. About us. About _anything_. Look, I really can't handle all of this… everything changing so suddenly… it's like I really did die, and now I'm just trapped in this weird, fake version of my life, and you being pretending to give a damn about us really isn't helping, okay?" Obito snaps, fresh tears spilling down his face. "So, _please_ , can't you… just be normal? Just call me an idiot, act like you don't even know I exist, just do _something_ real!"

Rin sucks in a breath. Obito doesn't remember what Kakashi was like when the boulder came down, the way Kakashi's barriers fell with it. How his youth was suddenly audible and all too obvious in the raw desperation of his voice. The utterly bleak look in his mismatched eyes when it seemed as though all was lost.

Kakashi has a similar look now. He gazes down at Obito, his eye dark and hooded. "Come on," He says, his voice coming out gentle and soft. He clears his throat, trying to inject some severity into his tone, "Come _on_ , idiot, stop being so slow and get over it already."

Obito stares up at him, his eye a weeping slit. He blinks, opening it more, his dark iris glossy from tears. He gives a hiccuping sob. Rin and Inoichi exchange worried looks. Kakashi takes a step closer to the bed, shoulders hunched up guiltily.

Then Obito laughs, abrupt and too loud. He turns his head, muffling his laughter into his pillow, "S-sorry… I just… I never thought you'd be so bad at being mean, Bakashi!"

Kakashi's face crumples.

"Kakashi took your deaths to heart," Inoichi says, a tone of reproach in his voice, "He's the biggest champion of teamwork now. He's never passed a genin team because his standards are impossible to meet. He visits the Memorial Stone twice a day, and has done ever since losing you all."

Kakashi stares at the floor.

Obito watches him carefully, "I… I didn't think you'd care, Kakashi. I thought we were just… teammates you got stuck with."

Kakashi shakes his head.

"You cared all along?" Obito presses.

"I only figured it out when you got…" Kakashi takes a deep breath, trembling all over. "When you nearly died."

"So when we _did_ die, for this world's Kakashi…"

"I imagine it destroyed him," Kakashi says coolly.

Silence falls among them.

Obito sighs, his swollen eyelid slowly shutting, already exhausted just from holding his head up for the conversation. It looks as though his pain medication is starting to kick in.

"I wanna meet this world's Kakashi," He says finally, "If losing us messed him up so badly, then he should be fine now we're back. And… I don't want to leave him in pain if I can help it. Okay?" He directs the last word to Inoichi, his eye fixing upon him.

"I don't have the authority - " Inoichi starts to say.

"I don't care," Obito grumbles, "I'm older than I look, you know. You should know, man to man, that I'm not gonna give up. I'll keep asking every day. I'll tear all my stitches. I'll ask Kakashi to beat me up - "

Kakashi makes a protesting noise.

"I'll ask Rin to beat me up," Obito amends.

Rin rolls her eyes, but can't bite back her smile. Obito is finally starting to sound more like himself.

Inoichi sighs, "I'll… see what I can do. No promises."

Obito tuts, mumbling as he starts to drift back to sleep, "The future is the _worst_ so far."

xxxxxxxxx

Minato picks a quiet spot underneath a rocky ridge. There's a few trees encircling his camp, but not so many that he can't see every angle someone could approach from. They could come from above, but he's tucked in so well that he'd see their arrival.

He knows Shikaku said they wanted to inform Jiraiya about the whole situation so he _didn't_ come rushing back to Konoha, but Minato can't help but feel the Hokage wouldn't have minded if he did. The idea of being used as bait to lure Jiraiya back home just to have another potential successor rankles Minato.

He's near Ame, according to the map Shikaku supplied him with earlier. It's fascinating, noting all the little differences between his world and this one. Ten years and one choice, made obvious by the map's omission of the Kannabi Bridge. If Minato had stayed in his world, the bridge would still be there. It's easy to dwell in what-ifs, so instead he considers what-nexts.

 _What next?_

Ever since he woke up in a dark room with a much-changed Sandaime and a hell of a lot of bad news to swallow, he's been planning his next move. He stopped trusting the Hokage after Shikaku's revelation, and Shikaku was clearly bound by his word to keep quiet besides the odd feigned slip here and there, so Minato had no reliable source of information. He needed to get out of the ANBU barracks.

Escaping wasn't an option. He wanted to leave his ties with Konoha intact - such as they were, seeing as he was considered mostly dead - and his team in a safe place to await his return.

When the Hokage spoke of Akatsuki with such potent anger, the analytical side of Minato sat up to take notice. He'd observed the old man during his stay in the barracks, and although he had changed since he knew him last, he still had the same slow-burning temper, so it was strange to see it flare up. Minato quickly made the connection - Akatsuki were a big threat to Konoha as long as they had Naruto, and they couldn't lose him without losing their biju, making them vulnerable to attack from the other villages. Minato had already fought Akatsuki three on one, while suffering from critically low chakra after taking on a thousand Iwa shinobi and winning.

Therefore, if Akatsuki really were such a big threat, Minato was currently Konoha's best weapon to aim their way. He was supposedly dead, his henge'd persona having nothing but a name and a single encounter for Akatsuki to go off of, making him an unknown in their books. From Minato's personal experience, organisations like theirs didn't like unknowns. Minato could pursue their members into every territory without Konoha receiving backlash or threats of war. Even if his henge failed, unless it was someone who was familiar with Namikaze Minato, he wouldn't be recognised.

Knowing all of this, he cheerfully volunteered for the job. Sarutobi had seemed concerned at first, worried he was throwing himself into danger to distract himself from his loss, but it hadn't taken much to convince him that he simply wanted to make the world a safe place for his son.

Mostly because it was true.

All he knows about Naruto is his name, and the fact that he is just like Kushina. That's enough to make him the most important person in Minato's life, and the idea of clearing out the organisation that dares target his child is a very appealing one.

But it's not the real reason he chose to go on this mission.

Minato flexes his hand against the grass, the summoning seal bright in his mind's eye. It's been a while since he has called on any of the toads, but it's been even longer for them. He hopes they aren't put off by his henge.

He takes a deep breath, settling into a meditative pose, and siphons off a small amount of chakra for the summons, not wanting one of the giants to emerge and signal his position like a shining beacon from the heavens.

A small puff of smoke emerges from the grass. Beneath it is a bright red toad wearing goggles around his neck. Minato's smile turns fond. He's very familiar with this toad.

"Hello, Kosuke-san," Minato says politely.

Kosuke looks up at him, confused, "Who're you? I thought it was… that chakra…"

Minato stretches out a hand. Kosuke gives it a dubious look, but gamely hops onto his palm. Minato raises him to his face, lightly pressing his forehead to the toad's cool skin. He sends a tiny spark of chakra to him, not wanting to leak too much in case someone else was around to feel it.

Kosuke's eyes stay shut for a long time. When they open, they are round with confusion and tentative hope. "Minato-chan?" He whispers.

Minato smiles.

Kosuke lets out a loud croak, leaping at Minato with great enthusiasm, "Minato-chan! It's really you!"

Minato cradles the little toad to his chest, laughing, "Yes, yes, it's me, but you must be quieter about it, okay? It's top secret. Only for you and Jiraiya-sensei to know."

For a moment Kosuke seems struck by the honour, but then his pleased surprise sobers up. "Minato-chan," He says gravely, "We _felt_ you die."

Minato isn't sure what to say to that.

"I didn't… I didn't know," He says uselessly, but it seems to make sense to the little toad.

"Well, take it from me, Minato-chan… we are very happy to have you back. And Jiraiya will be even happier, I bet!"

"I hope so," Minato says, a touch of worry slipping into his voice, "That's why I summoned you, Kosuke-san. Would you mind taking a message to Jiraiya-sensei?"

Kosuke beams, "It would be my honour! You have no idea how thrilled he's going to be!"

Minato gives a weak grin and a thumbs up.

The toad laughs in return, "Yes, you certainly are our Minato-chan, despite the henge. It's a strong one! I thought you were some weirdo who'd grabbed our scroll from Jiraiya!"

"Weirdo's not exactly what I was going for with this henge…" Minato says, plucking a lock of his hair and dropping it with a thoughtful huff. It falls into his eyes, much to his annoyance. Namikaze Minato would never have floppy hair, so it makes sense to use a henge that has it, but… he hates it.

He quickly scribbles a note for Jiraiya, aware that his handwriting alone will probably alert Jiraiya to the fact that this is no hoax.

"Here. This'll tell him where I should be for the next twenty-four hours. If he doesn't show up in that time, I'll just summon you again and reschedule. Is that okay?"

Kosuke takes the note with obvious pleasure, still beaming, "Of course!"

He has a pleasant conversation with the toad for the next half hour, until Kosuke tuts at the sun's position, annoyed at his own tardiness.

"I'll see you again, Minato-chan," Kosuke promises, then disappears in a puff of smoke.

Minato waves, then shoves his hair out of his face. It flops back down, perfectly in place. He suppresses a groan.

Time to consider his secondary reason for leaving the village. Shikaku had filled him in on everything they knew about Akatsuki, which was pretty much nothing. Minato's own encounter with them had been one of the only Konoha nin clashes with the group. They knew the most about Itachi, obviously, but Sarutobi warned him he'd be a difficult foe to face, so he would be better off starting with the weaker members.

Minato remembers slamming his fist into the Uchiha's gut and watching blood spray out of his mouth. Somehow, he isn't too worried about him. He _is_ worried about Kisame. The big man had seemed to enjoy their fight, which had been one of the most exhausting clashes of Minato's career. He wasn't eager to repeat it without the element of surprise.

There was a slim file on a bounty hunter turned Akatsuki member, Kakuzu, whose partner they couldn't get an accurate name or description of, since it seemed to change so often. He seems to skulk around the Land of Fire most of the time, which placed him high on Minato's list.

But first place was Akasuna no Sasori, the missing-nin from Suna. Reports placed him in the Land of Wind, almost circling his old village. He had an extensive bodycount to his name. That, and the close proximity to Konoha's closest ally - and he'd never get used to calling Suna an _ally_ \- made him Minato's top priority.

Even now, he wonders about Deidara. They sent three of their members after him. _Three_. Since all of their info seems to indicate Akatsuki always travels in partnerships, and Itachi and Kisame were known to be partnered up, Minato ponders whether they might send members to recruit their own prospective partners. If so, Sasori was going to be the one to work with Deidara, meaning they'd decided his fighting style was compatible with Deidara's. If Minato can get rid of Sasori, Akatsuki will have less reason to go after Deidara.

He must be talented, since they sent more than just his potential partner to forcibly recruit him. And, Minato recalls, Rin had said that Deidara took on all three at once, destroying Sasori's puppet body. Apparently Sasori had survived, but still. That level of raw power. Minato didn't just want to keep him out of Akatsuki's hands for his own good.

Deidara bombed his home village while he was leaving, seemingly out of spite and nothing else. Minato hopes there was more to it. He also wishes he could bring himself to care more that Deidara committed a terrible act against his own home. He'd probably care more if it wasn't Iwa.

Minato studies his map, plus the log of Akatsuki's last known movements. It isn't terribly useful, since Minato himself was the last person to provide an update.

He settles down for a long day of waiting, nerves fluttering in his stomach at the realisation that his teacher could appear at any moment.

xxxxxxxx

It only takes Jiraiya six hours to arrive.

By this point, Minato has set up a complex network of seals to make his camp almost invisible, the naked eye simply sliding away to look elsewhere, along with a collection of alarm seals to warn him if someone breaches the circle barrier he has created.

He is deep in his bedroll, thoughts still rattling around from the long day of quiet contemplation. He tries to steer away from speculation of what his son looks like, because he's afraid of the painful hook of longing piercing his chest again, but this time it brings him a small measure of comfort. There's someone to return to. He pictures red hair, his eyes, Kushina's face, his smile…

His alarm seals activate, sending a nasty shock of chakra through his system. He's on his feet in less than a second, hiding in the narrow gap in the rock he'd made earlier.

He peers through the gloom of the night. He didn't make a campfire, and his bedroll is the only thing besides his seals to draw suspicion. His bedroll is the same colour as the ground and his seals should be too subtle to sense, so he might be safe…

He glances up, and sees Jiraiya standing before him, several paces away.

Minato nearly trips in his eagerness to get to his teacher, a grin lighting up his face. He stops before he can throw his arms around him, remembering his henge. He makes a face at himself, then opens his mouth to explain.

Before he can, Jiraiya yanks him into his arms.

Minato blinks, his face buried in Jiraiya's shoulder. He pulls back to breathe, confused.

"You knew it was me?" He asks.

Jiraiya grips Minato's arms, studying his face with the most intense expression he has ever seen him wear.

"How could I not?" Jiraiya says finally, his voice cracked and raw. "I've spent more than enough time regretting you, kid. I thought about you every day since the attack. Thought about what I could have done. What I _should_ have done."

"Sensei…"

"I should have been there, Minato," Jiraiya says grimly, "There are no excuses. I know that."

Minato frowns, "There's one excuse. You couldn't have predicted the Kyuubi would attack Konoha. Not on that night, not on any night. Ku - Kushina's… labour… shouldn't have been enough to break the seal. I was responsible for keeping that seal secure, and I obviously failed. Is it my fault?"

Jiraiya shakes his head, his eyes wide and emphatic, "God, _no_. Don't try to make me feel better. Minato, you don't get it. Ghosts can't walk back into your life, and yet here you are. I… I'm not here to cry or makes excuses or even talk about me. Somehow by some miracle, you're alive, and I'm here for you. That's all there is to it."

Minato stares up at his teacher's face, something weakening inside his chest. His breath hitches on a sob, taking him by surprise. Jiraiya tugs him back into the hug.

"Come on, Minato," Jiraiya says, his voice gruff but warm, "Let it out, kid."

Minato tries not to at first. He doesn't have the luxury of crying over this, yet _again_. He needs to ask Jiraiya important questions, verify what he's been told. He needs to do so much.

Jiraiya's heavy hand pats him on the back, like a father with an infant, and Minato crumbles in his arms.

"I've got you," Jiraiya says, sounding resolute.

* * *

Hello, friends!

For those of you who desperately want Minato to be Hokage... give it a sec. He's just got back from the past. He's got stuff to do, you know? Plus if you arrived in the future by mistake and found out you were dead, a heck of a lot of your loved ones were dead, a bunch of shady, terrible stuff happened while you were dead, and also you used to be President, would you mind being President again? Right now. Also you can't see your son, don't ask why. Would you be President? Because I believe I would find a nearby tree and never come down, personally.

So, Minato's plan wasn't just to meet Jiraiya, but they got a little weepy against my best wishes and I couldn't really continue the scene just to be like, okay, now that's over... here's this important info!

So, Inoichi set out to make Deidara believe him being assimilated into the village is SUPER inconvenient and just the worst and the absolute last thing Inoichi wants to do, which, naturally, makes Deidara want to do it. I figured Iwa would be angry about one of their worst missing-nin, the one that bombed 'em, joining their ene - cough - tentative ally, but maybe it's like how the Allies used Nazis to further their own country's gain after the war was over and peace treaties were signed. Iwa moving beyond their treaty's limit and being allowed to do so in order to hold over them in the future was a dim reference to the Treaty of Versailles, and how Germany violated it by marching into the Rhineland, etc. etc. and the Allies didn't immediately declare war despite those being the terms. (Sorry for the impromptu shoddy history lesson. Whoops!)

The underground tunnels exist because, c'mon. Danzo needs a way of moving his ROOT dudes around, surely? How does he get the Hokage chakra to do it? HE'S DANZO. He probably has twelve of the Nidaime's handkerchiefs, all imbued with his chakra. That guy is just frighteningly prepared. Who needs twelve handkerchiefs?

Kosuke is a real toad in the series, and Danzo kills him for pretty much no reason so HERE HE IS, EFF YOU DANZO! The toad lives!

So, Obito had a lot to process in this chapter. Still managed to crack a few jokes. Still feels pretty bad, man. But he demands to see older Kakashi!

I had so much fun developing Rin for this story, you guys don't even know. I love her so much.

Minato's going on an Akatsuki hunt.

Fun fact: Kosuke gave Minato's note to Jiraiya, who recognised his handwriting in seconds, and then promptly sat and had a good cry. That's why he's all gruff when sees him later, he's been bawling his eyes out.

Quick poll, but not in bold because who knows how to do that in the end notes, not me, no siree: If you could swap lives with anyone in the world for one day, who would it be and why?

I wouldn't do it, because I'd pick someone tall and I just know I couldn't bear being short again after knowing how the other half live.


End file.
